


Zero to Max 5: The Outlaw Sunbreaker

by NetRaptor



Series: Destiny and Destiny 2 stories [34]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Fallen | Eliksni, Father-Daughter Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Magical Tattoos, Manhunt - Freeform, The Reef (Destiny)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 66,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23987425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NetRaptor/pseuds/NetRaptor
Summary: When Sorrel returns from her long patrol and asks Max to help her search for her missing father, Max jumps at the chance to spend more time with her. But the trail leads them to the Reef, which is a dangerous, chaotic place following the events of Forsaken. Will they find Sorrel’s father … or will he find them?
Relationships: Female Guardian/Male Guardian (Destiny)
Series: Destiny and Destiny 2 stories [34]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1072209
Comments: 33
Kudos: 22





	1. Prologue

I'm crying and she is laughing

Her joy is slowly tapping into me

So heavenly when

She moves like water touching silver

And she remembers

Gray days and skies of cloud and thunder

It's beautiful to her

The stars all around her

My heart beating louder

There's something about her

That makes me smile

-Beautiful, The Echoing Green

* * *

When the Awoken first emerged from the Distributary and settled in the Reef, they were unprepared for the violence of the Fallen. Despite the superior weaponry the Awoken had brought with them, the sheer numbers of the aliens often drove the Awoken into hiding, particularly when the Fallen threatened the mothers and children.

One man took it upon himself to defend his people: Tyrone Lanceborn, so named for his skill with spears and javelins. The added range gave him an advantage against the four-armed aliens and their deadly electrified daggers.

For decades, Tyrone was a fierce defender of the Awoken, protecting their expanding settlements and spaceports. The Awoken fondly called him their Guardian, even though Tyrone was not one of the Traveler's Chosen.

But one day, Tyrone was struck down by a gang of spear-wielding Marauders who ambushed him while he was alone. He felled ten of them, but the rest cut him to pieces in savage revenge.

Tyrone's will stated that he wished to be buried in an open crypt. "It may be that the Traveler will bring me back to defend my people," he wrote. "I am willing to take that chance."

He was buried with honors in the crypt reserved for fallen Corsairs and other beloved warriors of the Awoken. Beside the slab where his body lay embalmed was an inscription:

_Born of Light and Dark_

_A heart for his people_

_Hope for a new dawning_

_As the Light spreads ever brighter_

* * *

Years passed.

Ghosts wandered into the crypt to examine the bodies for the spark of their Chosen. Once in a great while, a Ghost would resurrect one of those cold bodies, restoring them to life, filled with Light, but no memory. These newly risen Awoken walked out of the crypt, confused and disoriented, and did not return.

But no Ghost raised Tyrone Lanceborn.

Every Ghost scanned his bones and read the inscription. Every Ghost was hopeful, for a long second, that this hero might belong to them. But each one flew away, disappointed.

The Dark Ages on Earth passed into the age of the Iron Lords. Slowly that gave way to the City Age, as humanity's survivors gathered beneath to Traveler and constructed the Last Safe City. Ghosts raised Chosen, year after year, who came to be known as the Guardians. While some turned out bad, most strove to serve the Light and humanity by protecting them from the forces of Darkness.

One cold, windy night in the Reef, a Ghost took refuge in the crypt.

He was a sturdy, determined Ghost, despite his worn shell and a badly scratched eye lens. He had been searching for his Chosen for such a long time, he had stopped counting the years. He'd survived encounters with every alien faction known to humanity, as well as Awoken pirates, and the hazards of weather and vacuum. He and the other Ghosts encouraged each other to keep on with their search. Someday, all of them would find their Chosen, their better half, the one whose Light resonated with their own.

The Ghost had found several nearly-suitable sparks over the years, but the Warlords had taught the Ghosts that not all humans made good Chosen. Some served nothing higher than their own appetites, hunting and enslaving the humans they had been raised to defend. Those kinds were better off left dead, as many bereaved Ghosts warned their siblings.

Despite the biting cold that had nearly frozen his shell to his core, the Ghost set about scanning each corpse. Moving in a businesslike way, he scanned each stone slab and the body lying on it, first along the north wall, then along the south wall. No sparks. No Light. At least, none that matched the picture in his core of the singular soul matched to his own.

The crypt had several rooms. The Ghost worked through each one, not thinking much, except about the awful weather. If it didn't clear by sunrise, he had to decide whether to shelter here, or try to make a run for the next settlement, three miles away. He was tough, but he was no fool. The weather in the Reef, only a thin layer of atmosphere cocooning asteroids and wrecked spaceships, was cold and turbulent. A tiny flying robot like himself might get blasted straight out into space.

Beyond these concerns, the Ghost wasn't thinking about much in particular. He had scanned so many thousands of corpses, it was a matter of habit, a job he performed flawlessly over and over and over.

He entered the deepest chamber and scanned the single corpse lying there.

A spark of Light seemed to leap out at him.

The Ghost froze, blinking his blue eye. A spark? His wandering attention entirely focused on that bit of Light, that soul fragment that still lingered among the bones of this corpse. It exactly matched the shape of the soul he'd been sent to find.

He nearly bonded himself to his Chosen right there, but restrained himself. _Wait. Look closer._ It was a mantra the Ghosts had taught each other. _It doesn't matter if their spark sings to you - if you resurrect a monster, you are chained to them forever._

The Ghost circled the pedestal, looking for an inscription. He found one engraved at the foot of the slab. Tyrone Lanceborn, born 2006, died 3288. They had calculated the years using Distributary time, the Ghost reasoned.

He read the rest of it, about hope for a new dawning. Certainty began to build inside him. A self-serving rogue would not have such things written on his grave. This man had been a hero. And he was the Ghost's partner, his Chosen, his future best friend.

The Ghost opened his shell and expanded into a sphere of Light. He rebuilt the powerful body of Tyrone Lanceborn, dressed him in armor the Ghost had spent years fabricating, and restored him to life.

The Awoken man drew a deep breath, filling his lungs with the chilly air for the first time in centuries. He sat up and looked around, confused. His hands roamed his breastplate and gauntlets. "What happened? Where am I?"

The Ghost flew into his range of vision. "Hello! You've been dead a long time, but I've just resurrected you. You're one of the Traveler's Chosen. A Guardian of the Light."

The man gazed at the Ghost, processing this. "It seems like I should know what you're talking about. Do you happen to know my name? Or anything about me? I'm afraid my memory is a bit spotty."

The Ghost didn't look at the engraving on the pedestal. "Something with a T, perhaps? Like Tyrone?"

The Guardian thought about this, deeply and carefully. The Ghost admired this trait.

"I don't think that's quite right," the Guardian said at last. "Not Tyrone. Tony. It sounds better."

"Tony," said the Ghost. "I like it. What about a surname?"

Tony swung his legs off the pedestal and stood, flexing his limbs to try his armor, refamiliarizing himself with his own body. "I'll remember it in time. What's your name, then?"

"I don't have one," the Ghost replied. "I'm called a Ghost, created by the Traveler, and sent out to find you."

"Shall I call you Ghost, then?" Tony asked, discovering a helmet on the pedestal and pulling it on.

The Ghost emoted a smile, his eye forming an upward V. "Would you prefer that I call you Awoken?"

Tony gave a short laugh. "I understand. Well then. Come here and let me look at you." He pulled off the helmet and set it aside.

The Ghost flew into his Guardian's grasp. He lay quietly in the powerful hands, letting Tony pry his shell segments apart to peer at his core. This was one of the first of many trust exercises between Guardian and Ghost.

Tony brushed a gloved thumb over the Ghost's scratched eye lens. "You've had a rough life, little Ghost."

"Yes," the Ghost agreed. "But I've also gathered much knowledge about the solar system. I can give you an edge over both allies and enemies."

"Can you be repaired?" Tony asked, fingering the badly scored shell.

"Yes, of course," said the Ghost. "The Vanguard, protectors of the Last City on Earth, have the means to repair Ghosts."

"Then we must find a way to get there," said Tony. "What do you think of the name Buckler?"

"Like a small shield?" said the Ghost.

Tony nodded. "Why not? It shortens to Buck."

The Ghost considered this. Somehow, this name resonated with his own nature. Even though he had only known his Guardian for less than an hour, already the neural symbiosis was synchronizing them, melding them into a perfect fighting team.

"Then my name is Buck," said the Ghost. "And I already know you're going to be a powerful Guardian."

Tony smiled down at the little robot for a moment. Then he released him to float into the air. "Come, Buck. Let's get out of this crypt."

"It's storming outside," Buck pointed out. "You might freeze to death, and the nearest settlement is miles from here."

Tony stood in the crypt entrance and watched sleet piling up in white mounds on the threshold. "Then we'll wait it out. In the meantime, tell me about this Last City … and why I awakened in a crypt in such a hostile place."


	2. It's good to see you again

Many years later, in the Tower, in the Last City, Guardian Jayesh was awakened by a soft chirp from his Ghost, Phoenix. He opened his eyes to see the little robot hovering near his pillow, blue eye glowing brightly in the darkness.

"What?" Jayesh whispered, so as not to awaken his sleeping wife beside him.

In his head, Phoenix said, "I hate to wake you up like this. You know your friend, Maximilian Ross?"

"Yeah?"

"He's drinking himself to death in the Tower canteen. His Ghost asks if you can come talk him into going home."

Jayesh groaned and checked the clock. Past midnight. "Can't one of his other friends deal with him?"

"Well," Phoenix said in a small voice, "you're a healer."

Grumbling inside his head, Jayesh got up and dragged on his warlock robe and boots. Yawning, he stumbled out of his apartment and climbed the dormitory stairs into the warm spring night.

The canteen was across the Tower walk and some distance downstairs, among the storage spaces and closed-off businesses that had been moldering there for decades. Someone had refurbished one of these into a small but busy bar. The robots there served food and alcohol under the watchful eye of a retired Titan who had opened a brewery in the City to support his business.

When Jayesh walked in, there were a few patrons scattered around the little tables, some engrossed in card games, others having a late dinner and drink after coming off patrol duty.

Max sat at the far end of the bar, a Hunter wrapped in his cloak, hunched over a shot glass and a bottle. His Ghost floated beside him, watching anxiously for Jayesh. She flew up and met him at the door.

"Thank the Traveler you're here," said Zero, twitching the halves of her shell. "He's ingested a liter and a half of whiskey, and I don't know how much more he can take. His body mass index isn't large enough to handle so much alcohol."

Jayesh eyed his friend's hunched posture. "I didn't know Max drank."

"He doesn't," Zero said in despair. "Sorrel left today."

That told Jayesh all he needed to know. He walked to the bar and took the stool next to Max. "Hey there."

Max blinked at him through bloodshot eyes. "Hey Jayesh." His voice was thick and slurred. His shaggy blond hair had tumbled over half his face, and his eyelids were red. He slid the brown bottle toward Jayesh. "Want some?"

"No thanks," Jayesh said. "What are you doing here? I didn't think detectives could afford to get sloshed."

"Not a detective tonight," Max mumbled. "Sorrel's gone."

"Gone?" Jayesh said. "What, did she walk out on you?"

Max lifted a hand and let it drop. "Has to be a Hunter. Looking for Ghost parts. Going on a patrol for a few years."

Jayesh winced and patted Max's shoulder. "That's rough."

"I should have said something," Max said, staring into his half-empty glass. "Told her I loved her. Too late now."

Jayesh sighed. He'd gone through this same emotional torment recently. There were no easy answers. He'd known that Max had feelings for Sorrel, but he had never thought that Sorrel would treat him so coldly.

Max touched the side of his own head. "I'm why her face is screwed up. Here to here." He indicated an area from his temple to his chin. "She never blamed me. Not once. She's perfect, Jay. And now she's gone. I should have ... I don't know." He chugged the rest of the whiskey in his glass and set it down, looking even more miserable.

Jayesh picked up the bottle and read the label. Then he slid it away from Max. "You've probably had enough by now."

"Yeah," Max said, rubbing his face with one hand. "Doesn't help, anyway. Thought alcohol's supposed to dull pain. It's just making it worse. Making me guiltier. I got no luck with women. Erica. Sorrel. I don't ... don't understand them."

"I don't think anybody does, really," Jayesh muttered.

Max tried to punch his arm and missed. "You got a girl. Did something right. Right?"

Jayesh smiled, a little dreamily. "Kari's amazing, but it's nothing I did. Who knows? Maybe Sorrel will miss you when she comes back."

"Maybe she'll forget all about me," Max replied, eyeing the bottle. "Two years is a long time."

"It is," Jayesh said. "You might get over her by then."

Max only looked at him - a disbelieving, suffering look.

"Or not," Jayesh conceded. "Come on, Max, let's get you home. I'm sure your Ghost will transmat you if you ask."

Max gazed into his empty glass for a moment, then sighed. "Yeah. Guess I should." He slid off the stool and nearly fell over. Jayesh had to catch his arm to steady him. He nodded to Zero, who transmatted them both to Max's upstairs apartment.

Jayesh helped Max stumble into bed, and even helped pull his boots off. Max blinked up at him. "Hey, Jayesh. When Sorrel comes back ... don't tell her about this."

Jayesh gazed down at his drunken friend, and his heart ached. "It never happened." He dropped a healing rift on the floor beneath Max's bed, then had his own Ghost transmat him home.

* * *

Max had an awful hangover the next morning. He was so busy throwing up, it didn't occur to him that his Ghost could heal him. It wasn't until he was lying on the bathroom floor with his eyes closed against the light that Zero said, "Um, Max … I could probably heal this."

"Please," he whispered hoarsely.

Zero opened her shell and expanded into a sphere of sky-blue Light. She pulsed Light into Max over and over, healing the alcohol poisoning, the damaged cells, the dehydration. He felt better by degrees, the throbbing in his temples diminishing.

Max slowly sat up and leaned against the wall. Zero closed her blue shell, which was adorned with a howling wolf etched in silver. She flew up to Max and gazed at him. "Better now?"

"Physically," Max said. He cupped a hand under Zero and stroked her shell. "Zero, why did Sorrel leave like that? Do you think she hates me?"

"I don't think it was about you, Max, love," Zero said tenderly. "Her Ghost told me that Sorrel has identity issues. Finding out she was a Guardian destroyed her. She has to learn to cope with that before she can handle a relationship. Vox knew it was coming and told me. We've both been sad about it."

Max leaned his forehead against Zero for a moment. Her cool shell felt good against his still-hot skin.

"Identity issues," he muttered. "Shouldn't she see a therapist?"

"She didn't want to," Zero replied. "Vox even suggested it."

Max sighed heavily, then climbed to his feet. "I'd better shower. The police station will be wondering where I am."

As he washed up, Max forced himself to think about work - work for New Monarchy, work at the police station where he was training under a senior detective, work for the Cormorant Blade. He didn't have time to mope around after a girl. Nevermind that she was the most perfect girl he'd ever known. Even being disfigured by road rash hadn't changed anything - in fact, he loved her more, because nobody else did. People avoided Sorrel, and it broke his heart. Maybe when she returned, her scars would have faded. It was said that Awoken tended to heal better than humans did.

Max threw himself into his work as a gumshoe detective. He helped with surveillance, helped bust drug rings, seized contraband, and filled out reams of paperwork. For New Monarchy, he kept the books on shipments and payments, sometimes making deliveries himself when they were short-handed. For the Cormorant Blade, he mostly observed how Guardians handled Guardian-related crime.

All was pretty ordinary until one dark day in September. Word spread through the Vanguard that Cayde-6 had been murdered in the Reef. His body had been brought back to the Tower for burial.

The Guardians exploded with rage. Many of them ran off to the Reef, defying orders, to hunt down the Awoken Prince, Uldren Sov, who had pulled the trigger. Max's friend Jayesh was one of them.

Max couldn't go, but he attended Cayde's funeral and mourned deeply. He'd always been in awe of the Hunter Vanguard, and now he was gone. No one else stepped forward to take his place.

Jayesh and his team returned, shaken and tight-lipped. Apparently, the Reef held secret terrors far blacker than a single trigger-happy madman. Jayesh and Kari stayed close to home and Max didn't see much of them.

A cold, depressing winter followed. Max hoped and hoped Sorrel would return, seeking refuge from the bitter cold. But she didn't. He didn't tell Zero, but he began to wonder if Sorrel had died out there, alone in the wilderness, with only a damaged Ghost for company.

Spring returned, then summer, then fall, and another winter. Max was promoted to full detective. He developed a talent for missing person cases, learning how to track down someone who was trying to disappear. Maybe someday, he'd use his skill to find Sorrel.

His friend Jayesh went on a mission to the Dreaming City, and came back mentally damaged and missing his Light. He shut himself away from Max, and Max was even more lonely. He resigned himself to having no close friends at all. He wistfully watched pretty girls his age walk by in chattering groups, but none of them compared to Sorrel. Even the thought of trying for another relationship was off-putting. Not after what Erica had put him through.

Then one day, he looked up, and Sorrel was there.

Max was waiting in line at the Tower's tiny post office, planning to check his mailbox. Subconsciously, he had a habit of looking for Sorrel wherever he went. So he was standing in line, gazing at the usual Tower foot traffic and cataloging any Awoken women in the area. And one girl turned and looked straight at him. Extremely fair blue skin, check. Distinctive scars, check. Glowing green eyes, check. Curly dark hair, check.

Sorrel smiled and waved.

Max's entire being seemed to freeze. His breath and heart stopped. It couldn't be. Sorrel was gone. But she wasn't gone. She was right there, twenty feet away, smiling as if glad to see him.

He bolted out of line and galloped to Sorrel. Without stopping to say a word, he grabbed her in a tight hug. She hugged him back with a breathless laugh, as if he'd taken her by surprise. Max could barely believe it was really her, that she wasn't some dream. He pulled away and studied her face. "You came back!"

"I told you I would," Sorrel said, studying him, too. She ran a finger over his goatee, which had finally filled out. "You look good, Max. Did you ever make full detective?"

Then Max was talking a mile a minute, filling her in on everything that had happened since she'd been gone. They grabbed mugs of tea and sat in the early spring sun. As Max talked, he stared at and stared at Sorrel, trying to cement her in his mind forever.

The left side of her face was still scarred, the smooth blue skin gone rough, pink, and scaly. But her hair had started to grow back, hiding the damage done to her scalp. The crescent-shaped lightmark on her left cheek shone dimly through the scarring. Otherwise, she had lost weight, her face a little too thin, the sinews in her neck standing out too much. The wilds hadn't been kind to her.

When he ran out of news, he said, "So, where have you been? Did you find your dad?"

Sorrel shook her head. "I traveled all over Earth. I learned to hunt Fallen like you wouldn't believe. During the winter, I lived off food from their caches. I am so sick of their smell. I found old data archives about the Sunbreakers, but they're headquartered on Mercury, and I don't have a ship. Then a few months ago, I met this girl who was a newly-risen Guardian, starving to death out there in the snow. I helped her get back here to the Tower. She's in the New Guardian section right now, being assigned rooms and things."

Sorrel fell silent, gazing at Max. "I missed you," she added, softly, as if afraid of being overheard.

"I missed you, too," Max replied. "I had started to think you were dead."

Sorrel smiled, the scarring twisting the corner of her mouth. "Not quite, although the elements tried. I have a tough little Ghost."

She still wore a sling across her chest with her Ghost nestled inside it. Vox's blue eye peeked out, cheerful and curious. "We found parts for me. Sorrel's going to take me for repairs tomorrow. Then I can fly again!"

Vox had been damaged by the Fallen and experimented on by Owl Sector. One of the reasons for Sorrel's walkabout had been to find replacement parts.

As Max smiled down at the Ghost, Sorrel cleared her throat. "So. Um. I was just wondering."

Max gave Sorrel his full attention.

Sorrel clasped her hands and looked at them a moment. "Is there a girl in your life?"

"No," Max said.

Sorrel looked up, her green eyes surprised. "No one? After two years?"

It was Max's turn to look down, warmth rising into his cheeks. "I've been working three jobs, so I didn't have a lot of free time. And … I never met anyone who … who compared to you."

When he looked at her again, Sorrel's eyes had filled with tears. She wiped them away and pushed back her hair. "Max, you're such an idiot. But you're so sweet about it." She cleared her throat. "I need to go to Mercury to find out what became of my father. I need a ship. And a detective."

"I have a ship," Max said, brightening. "And I specialize in missing persons cases."

Sorrel smiled. "That's why I needed to know if you were with someone. I couldn't very well ask you to shlep me around the solar system if you had someone waiting at home."

"Oh, so this is about business," Max said, taken aback. He was getting whiplash from her mixed signals. "I thought you ... nevermind. Uh, sure. Business. Why ask me, though? The Cormorant Blade would probably help you better."

Sorrel tucked her hair behind one ear and looked away. She sat in silence for a moment, gazing across the Last City to the Traveler's great cracked sphere in the sky. "Well, I know you, Max. I'd rather do this with a friend than some stranger. If I find my father's grave … that's going to be hard. And I know you won't take advantage of me." She fixed her green eyes on him. "Will you?"

"Heck no," Max said. Felwinter's fire, he'd forgotten this vulnerable side to her. It ignited every protective instinct within him. "If we do find your dad, and he turns out to be a scumbag, he won't be allowed to hurt you, either."

Sorrel smiled a little, as if this thought was equally painful. "At this point, I don't know what to think. The Sunbreakers were warriors, but they were also … amoral. There's a reason they broke away from the Vanguard. It bothers me that my father left my mother and me to work with them. I've begun to wonder whether I really want to find him."

Max reached a hand across the tiny cafe table, palm upward. "A trip to Mercury won't take long. A day or two, at most. If he's dead, we'll find out fairly quickly. And if he's not … we'll decide what to do, then."

Sorrel gazed at his hand for a long moment. Then she slipped her hand into it. "I'm so glad you're still here, Max. I heard about Cayde-6 and everyone running off to the Reef. I was afraid that you … you might have gotten killed out there."

Max shook his head and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. "I didn't go. I mean, I could have. I answer to the Iron Lords, not the Vanguard. But Saladin agreed with Zavala, that we didn't want to cause a war with the Reef. So I stayed here. And it was just as well. Remember Jayesh and Kari? Something happened to them out there. Something with Taken. Jayesh went back later and came back … not a Dawnblade anymore. He's been sick ever since."

Sorrel gasped and sat back in her chair, but didn't pull her hand away from his. "Jayesh did? Oh no! How does that even happen?"

Max shook his head. "He hasn't wanted to talk to me since then. His Ghost is always very apologetic, but he's not talking to anybody right now. Last I heard, he's in therapy with the Praxic Order."

"Poor guy." Sorrel gazed at their joined hands for a moment without seeming to see them. "I don't want to go to the Reef, hearing all this. I used to want to go there, because of being Awoken and such. But now … Prince Uldren and the Barons left it in such a shambles … I just don't want anything to do with it."

"Me neither," Max admitted. "A lot of Guardians died out there. The ones who came back were … screwed up, somehow. They all got into this new sport called Gambit. I've been on the fringes of the investigations. It's like back-alley Crucible, but with Taken. We've been breaking up groups of people in the City who are building Weapons of Sorrow. It's been bad. I wouldn't mind taking a few days to hike around Mercury."

Sorrel looked somber for a moment. Then she gave him a bright smile. "How about the day after tomorrow? I need to have some frames clean my apartment. The dust is an inch thick in there. And Vox needs repairs. Will you be free then?"

Max would have quit all his jobs for her, if she had asked. "Sure, I'm due for some time off. I'll get the paperwork in. Do you need anything? Armor? Weapons?"

Sorrel released his hand at last and lifted Vox out of her sling. The Ghost displayed a holographic listing of the items stored in her memory. "My rifle needs repairs. I saved myself from a nasty fall with it, but it bent the barrel. And to tell the truth, I'm really sick of this armor."

"I'll meet you at the shop tonight," Max said. "There's plenty of second-hand Hunter stuff for sale right now. I've been keeping an eye on it, myself. I've worn out these boots." He lifted a foot to display a hole in the leather, just above the sole.

Sorrel nodded and rose to her feet. "I'll see you then." She started to turn away, but hesitated, tucking her hair behind her ear again. "It's really good to see you again, Max."

Then she walked away, leaving Max with his heart pounding.

Once they were alone, Zero appeared beside him. The Ghost gave him a long look, then turned to gaze after Sorrel - but she did it in such a slow, sly way that Max knew that the teasing was about to begin.

"Don't say a word," he said.

"I didn't say anything," Zero replied.

"No, but you thought it."

Zero gave him her most innocent look, opening her shell a little. "You know what I think of Sorrel. She's good for you, Max. Just … don't be so over-eager that you chase her off. She's scared of guys pawing at her, remember."

Max did remember. Had he come off as too interested? She had said she was glad to see him, so maybe his exuberance could be excused as excitement at seeing her again. But he'd better tone it down by tonight.

He chugged the rest of his tea and hurried off to his shift at the New Monarchy booth, where he furiously applied himself to spreadsheets the rest of the day.


	3. Preparations

Sorrel barely recognized her apartment. She hadn't lived in it long before leaving, two years earlier. Most of her belongings had been moved from her City apartment and were still in boxes. After living so long with only camping gear and scavenged supplies, having all of her dishes back was sheer luxury.

A couple of cleaning robots tidied up for her, then Sorrel leisurely unpacked what she wanted and arranged her rooms the way she liked. As she did, she talked to her Ghost. Vox sat on the windowsill and watched.

"I don't know what I expected," Sorrel said, opening a box full of blankets. She unfolded them and began making her bed. "I mean, I guess I thought Max would have moved on, you know? We were out there such a long time. But it's like I never left. He's still the same. Except he's a full-fledged detective now."

"I told you he wouldn't give up on you that easily," Vox said. "You underestimate him, Sorrel."

Sorrel shook a blanket until it cracked. "I guess I've never known any men with much … loyalty. Dad leaving us when I was little … and then boys at school hounding me because of my looks … I just haven't had a lot of good experiences."

Vox was silent, watching as Sorrel turned the bare mattress into a comfortable place to sleep. Sorrel flopped on it and closed her eyes. "It's like sleeping on a cloud."

Vox emoted a smile. "Better than the ground?"

"You have no idea." Sorrel rolled off the bed and began transferring a box of clothes to her empty dresser. "At first, I thought I wanted to track down Dad alone. But the more I've thought about it … and the more I learn about Sunbreakers … the more I want somebody with me. Is it weird that Max is the first person who comes to mind?"

"I felt you missing him," Vox said. "Especially during firefights, when the Fallen had us cornered. Your mind practically screamed for him."

Sorrel smiled a little. "I know he's attracted to me. But I'd also rather have him watching my back than anybody else. What's this mean, Vox? Do you think I'm in love with him?"

Vox squinted at her for a long moment without speaking. Sorrel looked up at the little blue eye and waited.

Then Vox made an electronic giggling sound. "You need to decide that for yourself."

Sorrel put her hands on her hips. "I know how deep you are in my mind. You know stuff I don't know I know."

"And that's why I think you need to decide for yourself," Vox replied. "I don't believe you're happy with being a Guardian, even now. Or an Awoken. Or being beautiful. All our trip through the wilderness did was distract you."

Sorrel covered the scarred side of her face with one hand. "I'm not beautiful anymore."

"Beauty's about more than your complexion," Vox replied. "It's the way you talk, your manners, and how kind you are."

Sorrel rubbed the rough scars for a moment. "If Dad's alive … he's going to take one look at me and disown me. Nobody looks past this."

"Except Max," Vox said softly.

"Max was there when it happened," Sorrel said. "He doesn't count."

"Doesn't he?" Vox said. "If your Dad is cruel to you, I think Max would murder him."

Sorrel sat with her head bent for a moment, fingering a blouse's torn collar. "That's one reason I want Max to come with me. Just in case … this Sunbreaker Titan decides to smash up the other side of my face. They all use fire. Titans didn't use Solar Light for centuries because it went against their creed. Let's face it, Vox. I'm scared."

"I'm with you," Vox said. "And Max will stick as close as you'll let him. We won't let anyone hurt you."

Sorrel lifted Vox down from the windowsill and cuddled her. "You're so dear to me, Vox. Tomorrow, we'll get you completely fixed up. No more being a crippled Ghost."

Vox emoted a smile. "I love you, Guardian."

"I love you, too."

* * *

That evening, Sorrel met Max at what amounted to the Vanguard's swapmeet.

A couple of empty rooms a few floors down had been set aside for donations. Guardians donated used gear, and it was sold dirt cheap. Proceeds went to pay for housing for people still homeless after the Red War.

Sorrel still had glimmer in the bank from Owl Sector's settlement. But after two years of paying rent on her empty apartment, there was less there than she would have liked. She wanted to buy a jump ship, and she needed enough to live on afterward, until she could start working for the Vanguard and earning a paycheck. So she examined the second-hand Hunter gear with a frugal eye.

Max was a table away, examining boots, trying to find a pair in his size that had a design he liked. He held up a pair that might as well have been rubber boots and made a face. Sorrel wrinkled her nose. Max put them down and kept searching.

Sorrel found a breastplate that looked like it had never been used, as well as a soft leather tunic that wasn't too worn. Then she found a thick woolen cloak and held it up. "Look at this, Vox. I think it's real wool."

"It would sure be warm on those cold nights," Vox said wistfully. "But can we afford it?"

Real wool was extremely expensive because of the hazards involved in pasturing sheep under the noses of marauding Fallen. Sorrel checked the price tag. "Two thousand glimmer? Uh, no." She sadly folded the cloak and returned it to its place. "I could buy a new rifle for two thousand glimmer." She moved on to thinner cloaks made of synthetic materials. She eventually settled on a good waterproof one with only a little wear along the bottom hem.

Max appeared at her side, his blue eyes bright and cheerful. "What do you think of these?" He had found a pair of synthleather boots, practically new, with a pleasing design across the tops.

"They look nice," Sorrel said, "but there's only one way to tell about boots. The sniff test."

Max sniffed one. "Tolerable. Some of them, I could smell from three feet away."

The merriment in his face made Sorrel laugh. "You make this way more fun than it should be."

"It's like a scavenger hunt," Max replied. "And sometimes you have to laugh. Look at this." He picked up a tunic made entirely of red sequins. "What's worse, this is a man's size."

They laughed and laughed. Sorrel forgot about her scars, forgot that she didn't want to be a Guardian, forgot about her absent father, and simply enjoyed the moment. She'd always been so comfortable around Max, thinking of him as the brother she'd never had. That sense of comfort and security had returned the instant their eyes met across the Tower walk.

They made their way to the checkout. As they waited in line, Max said, "Whoops, forgot something. Be right back." He dashed around the tables, grabbed something, and hurried back. Tucked under the boots in his arms was the expensive woolen cloak.

"You saw that, huh?" Sorrel said.

Max blushed. "You don't see many of these. Have to grab them when you can."

Sorrel didn't think much about it, except for being vaguely envious that Max could drop that much glimmer on a cloak. Then, as they stepped outside, he handed it to her.

"What?" Sorrel said blankly. "It's yours."

"It's a gift," Max said. "A hunter needs a good winter cloak. If you decide to leave again … maybe it'll remind you that you have friends."

The sudden wistfulness in his voice brought a lump to her throat. She took the cloak and tucked it under one arm. "Thanks, Max. You know I'll never forget you."

He smiled and didn't say anything, but his eyes turned a little moist.

Sorrel changed the subject. "Want to grab dinner? I'm in desperate need of good, hot food. With lots of carbs and fat. The Fallen mostly live on fish and underwater worms and things like that."

Max shuddered. "Yeah, come on. There's this new miaso soup the ramen place has on special. You can't believe how good it is."

Sorrel ate until she couldn't take another bite, then ordered a flan and took it home as a bedtime snack. Max escorted her to her door, carrying her purchases of the evening for her.

"Want to come in?" she asked. "I've gotten it all arranged, now."

Max peeked inside. "It looks really nice, Sorrel, but I can't, tonight. I've got to pack and fuel up my jumpship. You know, the stuff you do before a trip."

"All right, then." Sorrel hugged him and took her armor, cloak, and dessert. "Goodnight."

She went inside and put her things away, humming to herself. The flan was just as good as advertised. When she went to bed, she wrapped herself in the woolen cloak, just to try it out. It was deliciously warm, and made sleeping in a bed feel not quite so strange. She settled Vox on a pillow beside her.

"Happy, aren't we?" Vox observed.

"Yes, so?" Sorrel said, cocooned in the cloak with only her eyes showing.

Vox emoted a smile. "Just observing."

Sorrel dozed off, wondering what Vox had been talking about.

* * *

Max's jumpship was a small cruiser model, designed for one person to live for a long time. It had a tiny galley, a bunk, and a bathroom about two feet square, all crammed between two Nova-class engines with a jump drive directly behind it. He hadn't used it much, most of his work keeping him close to the City. Now he looked at the quarters and grew hot with embarrassment.

"Zero, we have a problem."

His Ghost flew in from the galley, where she had been consulting the ship's computer about standard supplies. "Yes, Max?"

He pointed at the bunk.

Zero looked at it. "It looks all right to me. Is it too small? You're not that tall."

"Where's Sorrel going to sleep?" Max said.

Zero looked at the bunk again. After a second, she made a discordant beep, like a cough. "I see what you mean. There's not time to trade in for a bigger ship, is there?"

"No," Max said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, I'll just sleep in the pilot seat. It reclines."

Zero gave him a sly look. "Or you could ask her to marry you. Problem solved."

"Sorrel thinks of me as a friend," Max said, looking at the bunk with a sigh. "If I proposed now, she'd run. No, I'm going to treat her right. If all she wants is a friend, then I'll be the best friend she ever had. Things might change, down the line." He made his way back to the ship's outer door, where boxes of supplies waited at the bottom of the gangplank.

Zero followed him. "And if she doesn't change? Leaves again?"

Max paused with his arms full of freefall-safe food containers. "Then … she's allowed to do that."

Zero followed him back up the gangplank. "Even if it breaks your heart again?"

Max began stowing food in cabinets. "Zero, I have no claim to Sorrel. Sure, I owe her my life because of putting her through that sparrow accident with no helmet. It's one reason I'm taking her to Mercury. Light, Zero. I'd probably do anything she asked me to. But if she wants to leave again, I won't stop her."

Zero helped put things away, transmatting them from place to place. Then she spun her shell and made a beep like a sigh. "I wish I could help, somehow. After watching the way Erica treated you … Sorrel is so kind. She's so good for you. But until she resolves her own problems …"

"...I just have to be patient," Max finished. "And I will. I'll wait until the stars fall from the sky and the sun goes black. Light knows Guardians live that long."

Zero gave him a mournful look and said nothing.

* * *

The next day, Max didn't see much of Sorrel. She hung around the Ghost repair shop all day, providing moral support for Vox. Vox had to have what amounted to open heart surgery. The Guardians who handled regular repairs had to call in a Ghost technician. This was a highly-trained warlock whose Ghost was an expert at repairing the insides of her kind. Together, they cut open Vox's core and replaced the delicate components inside. Vox lay there in pieces, awake but unable to see, answering questions, and constantly asking if Sorrel was there. Sorrel reassured her over and over that she was safe. Vox whimpered about spiders and Darkness.

The surgery took five hours. It took two hours more to painstakingly weld the little core back together. But when it was all over, Vox floated effortlessly off the table and zipped around, her repulsors and stabilizers finally functioning. Her Light powers worked at full strength, and she appeared and disappeared effortlessly.

Sorrel paid the technician an exorbitant amount of glimmer. But she had it, and it was worth it to see that her collecting of dead Ghosts had paid off. The remains of each Ghost Sorrel sent to the Cryptarchs, who would analyze them for data, then inter them in the Tower crypt.

Sorrel hadn't eaten all day, so she headed downstairs to the Tower cafeteria with Vox flying at her shoulder.

"No fast food tonight?" Vox asked.

Sorrel shook her head. "I need more calories than that. And the menu tonight is roast beef."

The cafeteria was busy that evening, with Guardians standing in line to heap their plates. People talked and laughed. But when Sorrel joined the line, other Guardians glanced at her face and moved a few steps away. Nobody spoke to her. She might as well have been invisible.

Sorrel pretended not to notice and chatted with Vox, instead.

When she reached the buffet, Sorrel took as much as her plate would hold: roast beef with gravy, a baked potato with slabs of butter and salt, three pickles, a chunk of smoked cheddar, and a wedge of apple pie. She added a water bottle and headed to a table with a free chair.

Three other Hunters occupied the other chairs. They nodded a greeting to her. One Exo stared and said, "Man, what happened to your face?"

"Sparrow accident," Sorrel said. "It'll fade in time." She hoped this was true.

The Exo pointed to a huge scratch across his left cheekbone panel. "Crucible. Warlock came after me with a sword."

"Hey, that's nothing," said another Hunter. "I got chewed up by a Hive Ogre. I'd show you the scars, but they're across my butt."

The table launched into a discussion about scars and the adventures that had created them. Sorrel ate and listened, feeling a sense of belonging for the first time. When the conversation wound down and everyone had started on dessert, she asked, "Do any of you use Void Light? I've been working on my technique."

Everyone at the table either specialized in Void or had trained in some kind of Void discipline. Sorrel was bombarded with helpful advice.

She found it a relief that other Guardians grappled with their Light powers. Light wasn't always easy to use, especially summoning a floating Void dagger or two. Sorrel had been practicing shaping a Void sword that would follow her around and slash up targets. But she could only maintain it for about thirty seconds, which was frustrating. The others gave her advice about focus and Light channeling.

The group finally bade her goodnight and left. Sorrel returned her dishes to the counter, and was considering taking home more pie, when Vox said, "Message from Max."

Sorrel smiled at her. "What's he say?"

"He says, 'Hey Sorrel, I've been getting the ship ready. If there's any food you want to eat, bring it tomorrow morning.'"

Sorrel knew exactly what she wanted - she'd craved rich foods most of her time in the wilds. She left the cafeteria and headed for the Tower commissary. There, she bought a wheel of cheese, two big boxes of matzah bread, a bottle of wine, and a jar of berry preserves.

"Planning a party?" Vox asked, refraining from mentioning how much glimmer it had cost.

"Comfort food," Sorrel replied. "Whether my father is dead or alive, I'm going to need it. Plus, I lost twelve pounds out there, and I couldn't afford to."

Vox gave her Guardian a quick look. While Sorrel hadn't starved in the wilderness, she had come close to it multiple times. She had lost muscle mass as her body cannibalized itself. Vox hadn't said anything, but she wished Sorrel would stay longer in the Tower to rest and replenish her body's reserves. If this journey turned difficult, Sorrel might have a breakdown. A resurrection would have restored Sorrel to peak condition, but Sorrel hadn't died while in the wilds.

They returned to the apartment for the night, where Sorrel packed her clothes and belongings into a carrying bag. Vox stored her replacement scout rifle and sidearm. Then Sorrel again wrapped herself in the woolen cloak and went to sleep. Vox stood guard, as she had for two years, but this time she could do it while hovering.


	4. Sunbreaker graves

The next morning, Max met Sorrel in the hanger. She was gazing up at his ship with her arms full of bundles as he approached. Her dark, curly hair hung free, and her smile was bright as she turned in his direction. "Hey," she greeted him. "Ready for your next case?"

"Sure am," Max replied, self-consciously flipping his blond hair out of his eyes. He signaled Zero to lower the gangplank. "Loaded up on snacks, huh? And wine, too?"

"I'm trying to build up my weight again," Sorrel said. "Vox said I've been in a starvation state for fifteen months."

"We can't have that," Max said, seeing again the unhealthy thinness of her face. "I brought plenty of supplies, too. Come on, let's get your stuff stowed."

This only took a few minutes. Sorrel hesitated at the sight of the single bunk, but Max assured her that the pilot seat was comfortable enough for him. Reassured, Sorrel stowed her gear in the compartment beneath it and strapped herself into the copilot seat.

Max wasn't a very good pilot, simply from lack of practice. If not for Zero's hasty corrections, he would have scraped off a wing on the hanger doors. Hot with embarrassment, he let Zero coach him on how to handle atmospheric ascent, how to achieve orbit, and how to set course for Mercury without becoming entangled in Venus's gravity well.

Sorrel curled in her seat, unaware of the rapid but telepathic conversation happening beside her. She pulled out a cheap tablet assigned to all new Guardians and read a book on it. Her simple trust in Max's flight skills made him all the more determined not to let her down. Already, he was dreading trying to land.

He executed a short jump maneuver between Earth and Venus, course-corrected, and jumped again to Mercury. Even though Max was sweating, aware that if he screwed up the jump calculations, the ship would vaporize against a planet's atmosphere, Sorrel was not. Serenity radiated from her. She didn't even look at the controls, only moving her hand now and then to flip a digital page. Watching her, Max felt a little calmer - and even more resolve to protect her.

Sensing his attention, Sorrel looked up and smiled. "Everything all right?"

"Everything's great," Max said. "I was just wondering … whereabouts on Mercury are we headed? I'm not sure where the Sunbreakers used to hang out."

"Oh, right." Sorrel sat up and summoned her Ghost. "According to my research, they often used this Vex construct, the Burning Shrine, to empower themselves in Solar Light. Their actual home base was a fleet of ships, which were destroyed by the Red Legion. But they may have left records and other remains on Mercury, so that's where I'd hoped to start."

Her Ghost displayed a hologram of Mercury, then zoomed in on a spot in the southern hemisphere, displaying longitude and latitude.

Max punched these numbers into the computer. "Excellent. I mean, excellent for navigation. It's not so great for your dad."

"I know," Sorrel said softly. "No Sunbreakers have been seen since the Red War. Zavala allowed his Titans to learn the Hammer of Sol discipline to honor their memory."

Max glanced at her. "How do you know all this if you're been out of the Tower for two years?"

Sorrel tapped Vox. "The Sunbreakers actually had an Earth base at one time. I was able to glean a lot of information from the database in the computers there."

"The Fallen almost killed us there," Vox chirped.

When Max shot Sorrel an alarmed look, she waved a hand. "It was no big deal. That's where I learned to do that crazy Hunter jump while cloaked in Void Light. They probably still don't know where I went."

Max didn't say anything, but he reached over and patted her arm.

"It's all right," she told him. "They didn't hurt me much, and Vox healed me."

The more Max learned about Sorrel's time in the wild, the more he wondered why he hadn't gone after her.

They dropped out of NLS with a lurch. Mercury appeared on the viewscreen, a reddish-brown orb covered in geometric Vex markings, nearly washed out by the sun's glow.

"Crop circles," Max observed, nodding at the markings.

Sorrel opened her mouth, closed it again, and nodded. "You're not wrong."

They swooped down toward the planet's surface, the ship's AI following a preprogrammed approach toward their coordinates. Max watched their speed and warily waited for Zero's instructions. He really didn't want their journey to end as an impact crater on the surface of Mercury. But the ship handled their approach smoothly, controlling their speed as they descended into the hot, dry atmosphere. Once, Mercury had been terraformed by the Traveler, which had turned it into a lush, hot world of plains and fungus-like trees that feasted on the intense heat of the sun. But the Vex had appeared out of nowhere, replacing the planet's core with their own superconstruct, wiping out the planet's magnetic field. Almost overnight, Mercury was transformed into a desert. The atmosphere was thin, and while it was still oxygen-based, the amount of oxygen dwindled year by year as the solar wind peeled it away.

The jumpship reached a cruising altitude of eight thousand feet and flew toward the Burning Shrine. As the Shrine appeared on the horizon as a tiny blip among the long, geometric lines etched into the planet's rocky surface, Zero said, "I'm detecting several jumpship signatures already at the Burning Shrine."

Sorrel put away her tablet and sat up, peering at the ship's screens. "Guardians?"

"Looks like it," Max said, blinking at the sensor readings. "Why are Guardians interested in this place? Do you think they're looking for Sunbreaker artifacts?"

Suddenly Zero made a sound like a giggle. "Oh no. It's nothing like that."

"What is it, then?" Max asked.

Zero pulled up a listing of Crucible arenas. "They're holding a Crucible championship match there today."

Max groaned and looked at Sorrel. "Should we bother?"

She bit her lip for a moment, then nodded. "I was actually worried about the Vex harassing us, since this is their planet, now. With only two of us, it might have been bad. But if there's a Crucible match going on, any Vex will be cannon fodder. As long as we let them know we're here to look around the ruins, I doubt the players will mind us."

The Burning Shrine grew from a dot to a sprawling set of geometric ruins - or, perhaps not ruins, since the Vex tended to build pieces of their buildings over time. Gunfire and Light powers flashed and flickered among the stone walls and towers. The computer scan registered no enemies, only friendlies.

Max spotted a collection of jumpships docked on the ground and throttled back, trying to land somewhat near them. "Gently," Zero said in his head. "Raise the flaps. Extend the landing gear."

Max obeyed, feeling sweat soak the neck of his tunic. He slowed until it felt like they were about to drop out of the air. Then Zero said, "Reverse thrust, and descend."

Max did so, holding his breath. The ship dropped toward the rocky ground, the engines kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Cut the throttle," Zero said. Max did. The ship dropped and landed with a jolt. It rocked a moment, then settled. Max sat for a moment, staring at the controls, waiting for something to explode. Nothing did.

Sorrel unbuckled her harness. "Nice landing. Give me a minute to equip oxygen to this suit. I've heard things about Mercury's atmosphere."

Max sat there a moment longer, drawing deep breaths, trying to calm down. He had landed. They were still alive. He flipped through the ship's readouts, looking for damage reports. He did it multiple times.

"Max," Zero whispered at his shoulder. "It's all right. You did it. The ship took no damage."

He gave her a weak smile. "Yeah. Yeah, thanks." He unstrapped himself, peeled himself out of the pilot's seat, then went to find his own helmet and oxygen tanks.

The mundane chore of equipping and pressurizing his suit calmed him down. Then he and Sorrel checked each other's suits, making sure everything was connected properly and airtight. Then Max cycled the airlock, and they stepped out onto the hot, dusty surface of the closest planet to the sun.

As they approached the nearest jumble of stone walls, a Guardian hanging around in the shade stepped out, one hand raised in greeting. Their Ghosts switched their helmet radios to the open frequency.

"Hey!" the other Guardian called. She was a warlock in black armored robes, some of them bloody from wounds sustained in the violent games inside. "You here for a match?"

Sorrel stepped forward. "No, actually, we're here to investigate the ruins. We're looking for the old Sunbreaker Order base."

"Oh, that's on the other side," said the warlock, sounding cheerful. "The Crucible territory doesn't go beyond this set of walls, so don't worry about getting ganked. There's not much in that base except the graves, but feel free to look around."

"Graves?" Max said.

"Yeah," said the warlock. "Tons and tons of Titan graves, all marked. Sad, but not interesting. We knew the Red War wiped out the Sunbreakers."

Max glanced at Sorrel, but her helmet's reflective visor hid her expression. Her tone was neutral as she said, "Thanks for the directions. We'll just take a look around."

"Sure you don't want to play a match?" said the warlock hopefully. "I'm an alternate for the red team, and it'd be super cool if you guys tagged in."

"No thanks," Max said. "Good luck, though!"

The Hunters hiked on, leaving the disappointed warlock retreating back into the shade of a wall.

They walked for thirty minutes, half-skimming along in the weaker gravity. Neither of them said much. Max was bracing himself for the end of their quest - a quiet grave and a dusty headstone. At least Sorrel would have closure. Would she cry? He didn't know what to expect. Sorrel was always so reserved.

A separate building stood apart from the Shrine. From the roughly-set angles of the bricks, it seemed that the Sunbreakers had built it, not the Vex. A pair of huge stone doors stood ajar, each of them etched with the sunburst icon of the Order. Sand had drifted inside. Sorrel stepped in first, and Max followed.

The place had once been a military-style barracks. They found old sleeping quarters with dusty, unused cots, weapon racks with a few rusty rifles still hanging on them, and a mess hall with chairs and tables tumbled against the walls. If there had been any computers, they were long gone. It was silent but for the tap of their boots on the stone. The rooms seemed haunted by the echoes of Light once honed and wielded here.

They emerged outside again through a set of back doors. Here they found the graveyard: acres upon acres of mounds and stone markers. Max and Sorrel set about reading them in silence, looking for Tony Atkin. Their Ghosts appeared and helped, scanning and moving quickly. It was hot, dismal work. The sun burned down, and the ground burned upward. Max felt his suit begin to stick and chafe. It was supposed to circulate the air and keep him cool, but in the oven-like conditions, his suit could only do so much.

After they had covered an acre, Max and Sorrel retreated to the cool, shady barracks. They sat side by side against the wall, their suits venting oxygen and moisture automatically.

"I don't think Dad's here," Sorrel said.

Max turned and looked at her. Only her glowing eyes were visible behind the helmet's shield. "What makes you say that?"

"The dates," Sorrel said. "The first ten rows of graves were all dated the year of the Red War. But the further out we go, the older the dates are becoming. If there's no Tony Atkin in the new graves, then he's not here."

"He may have died out in the fleet," Max said.

"Or maybe," Sorrel said, straightening, "he's the one who buried all these Titans. They didn't get in the ground by themselves. And Vex don't make grave markers."

"It's a long shot," Max said doubtfully. "The Vanguard could have buried them, too."

"The Vanguard was busy protecting the City," Sorrel said. "When the Red War happened, Mom and I evacuated to this farm place in the European Dead Zone. With no Light, the Guardians did what they could to save civilians. Nobody thought about the Sunbreakers until it was all over."

Their Ghosts floated nearby, listening. "I'll keep checking the grave markers," said Zero. "It shouldn't be hard to keep track of names and dates. Come on, Vox. The heat doesn't bother us so much."

The Guardians watched their Ghosts return to the graveyard and flit among the markers.

"They're so kind to us," Sorrel murmured. "Ghosts are good people."

"I know," Max replied. "Zero has stuck with me since I was just a normal guy, dying of cancer. They love us so much."

Sorrel watched Vox fly. "Did you notice the Ghost names on the markers? They must be buried with their Guardians."

"It's what they'd want, I think," Max said. "They hate being separated from us."

The Ghosts drew further and further away, their shells becoming glints of light in the harsh sun. Suddenly, both of them drew together to look at something. After a moment, they turned and flew back to their Guardians as fast as they could move.

Max stood up, one hand dropping to his sidearm. "What is it?"

"Someone desecrated the older graves," Zero reported, hovering above his outstretched hand. "Three whole rows have been dug up."

"Bones everywhere," Vox added. "Someone took all the armor and Ghost shells. There were cores in a pile to one side."

Sorrel jumped to her feet. "That's sick. Who would do that? Was it recent?"

"No, no," Vox said. "The soil is beaten down and the bones are bleached out. It must have happened months or years ago."

"The Vex wouldn't bother digging up graves," Max said grimly. "But the Fallen would."

The Ghosts scanned the area, relaying data to their Guardians' helmet screens. But there were no hostiles in the area - only friendlies in the Crucible arena.

"Fallen," Sorrel said through her teeth. "Animals. I watched them turn Vandals into Dregs by docking their arms. If they do that to their own people, no wonder they have no mercy on humans. And I have no mercy on them."

Max stood for a moment, his detective training spinning into high gear. "All right. We have a couple of facts. Tony Atkin isn't buried here. But someone buried a lot of Sunbreakers here, following their customs. We have to assume it was other Sunbreakers. That means that a few of them survived the Red War. The next question is, where are they now?"

"Would they go to their fleet?" Sorrel asked. "They had a couple of space stations, but I don't know where."

Max rubbed the chinguard of his helmet, thinking. "There's a Dead Orbit sensor beacon in Mercury orbit. We can use it to connect to their network and see where the Sunbreaker stations are."

"Great." Sorrel smacked a hand into her fist. "Let's get back in the air. I know Dad's alive, somewhere. Mom says she can hear his voice, sometimes. She's positive he survived the war."

"Well then," said Max, who was inclined to doubt this but too polite to say so. "Let's go, then."

As they walked through the burning desert ruins, Max said, "Is hearing voices an Awoken thing?"

"My grandmother is a Techeun," Sorrel replied. "Mother says that many messages come to the Awoken. Apparently our whole race is half-psychic, with Mara Sov being the strongest one."

Max was struck by how little he actually knew about the Awoken. He'd had to learn a lot, very fast, when a monster had been loose in the Last City that specifically targeted Awoken. But he didn't really know much about their origins, or powers, or even why Light flowed in patterns beneath their blue skin. Could a marriage between a human and an Awoken even work out, long-term?

Sorrel interrupted his thoughts. "You're quiet. Something up?"

"Uh." He gave her a smile she couldn't see because of his helmet. "I just don't know much about the Awoken. Hoping I haven't offended you, somehow."

"No, no," Sorrel said with a laugh. "Honestly, I don't know much about my own race, either. I grew up in the Last City, going to schools with human kids. I'd forget that I looked different, and then somebody would single me out … like when the boys would try to kiss me. There were some girls who picked on me all the time. I was prettier than them and they were jealous."

"You're prettier than most girls," Max said in an undertone.

"Not anymore," Sorrel said.

Her scars - right. Max barely noticed them, and especially with her helmet on, he had forgotten they were there. Silence fell. Was she blaming him for the sparrow accident? He certainly blamed himself. Guilt twisted in his gut.

"Sorrel," he said, "you know I'm so sorry-"

She raised a hand, cutting him off. "Don't. It wasn't your fault. We didn't know the monster was going to flip your sparrow. I should have asked for a helmet and I didn't think about it. Let it go, Max."

Max bit back the other apologies he'd been going to make. She'd forgiven him, but he couldn't forgive himself. They walked the rest of the way back to the ship in silence.

As they cycled through the airlock, Zero said in his mind, "Such drama."

"Hush, you," Max thought to her, but he was grinning as he pulled off his helmet.

Sorrel pulled off hers and shook out her hair with a breath of relief. "What?"

"Zero's hassling me," Max replied. "Nothing serious. Let's get strapped in."

They climbed into their seats in the cockpit, and Max worked through the preflight sequence. Taking off from a wide-open desert plain was much easier than easing out of a hanger in hover mode. They left Mercury's surface and headed for orbit.

Once they reached orbital altitude and executed their gravity turn, Max had Zero locate the Dead Orbit beacon. It was in geosynchronous orbit over Mercury, observing the movements of the Vex. Zero queried it for data. The beacon obligingly sent back information gathered by other beacons in its network.

Zero displayed a holographic image of the solar system. Red dots appeared at three points: one in Martian orbit, one in the LaGrange point between Venus and the sun, and one near Jupiter's moon Callisto. All of them were marked as inactive.

Sorrel leaned closer to the hologram. "Looks like this one near Venus is pretty close. How's the fuel looking?"

"Way above half," Max replied. "Plenty for a small jump like that. Now, assume a few Sunbreakers are hiding out there. Do you think they'll shoot at us?"

Sorrel bit her lip. "I hope not. We're obviously a Guardian-class jumpship. When we get there, why don't we try hailing them? If anybody's there, they can answer, by Ghost if nothing else."

Max nodded and began plotting a course. Zero closed her hologram and assisted. The ship's engines fired, rotating their position, aiming for Venusian orbit. The jump drive fired, and they leaped to near-lightspeed.


	5. Ravicks, Devourer of  Hearts

The jump lasted five seconds. They dropped out of NLS to find Venus's bright yellow orb in the distance. Much nearer was an old space station, surrounded by a debris field that glittered in the sunlight. This was a stable LaGrange point - a spot where the planet's gravity and the sun's gravity canceled each other out. Every planet had a few such points, some more stable than others. Humans used them as parking lots for space stations and satellites. The Fallen used them, too, so it was wise to know their locations and keep scans on high when approaching one.

Max hailed the station, first on regular Guardian frequencies, then by having Zero transmit on the Ghost-exclusive Light frequency. Nothing answered.

Max looked at Sorrel. "Your call. What do we do?"

Sorrel studied the space station. It was a long central tower with two rings that had once rotated to create mock gravity. But the rings were still. One of them had a section missing, as if a bomb had torn through it. The remains of the ring section composed most of the debris field, although there were quite a few fighter ships floating there, too.

"Cabal did this," Sorrel murmured, pointing to a slightly larger derelict with the Red Legion insignia on the side. "I can't tell who won. Do you think the computers inside are intact enough to mine for data?"

"Depends on whether the Sunbreakers destroyed their own equipment to keep it out of enemy hands," Max replied. "It's worth a look, I guess. Let's see if I can creep up to the docking station without hitting debris."

It took a long time to dock at the old platform in the far end of the ruined space station. Sorrel debated Max on whether the debris field could be considered asteroids. It was a silly conversation, composed mostly of jokes, that kept both of them laughing.

But they fell quiet as Max began the tricky business of maneuvering through the debris to the docking platform. Sorrel had no idea that Max was an inexperienced pilot. She had no training at all, so she thought his skill was amazing. Instead, she closed her eyes and reached toward the station with her senses.

Ever since Sorrel had been injured by Darkness invading her body, she had been more sensitive to the ripples of Darkness and Light all around her. She had honed this sense out in the wild, when tracking Fallen. The alien race, as a whole, gave off a Darkness signature like a throbbing wave of heaviness. But the lowest ranks, the Dregs, had a fainter signature than Captains. She had seen one Archon from a distance - a high priest of the alien race - and his Darkness had been so strong that she had thrown up. She had come to associate the rank body odor of the aliens with that heavy sense of oppression.

In the opposite direction, the Light was warmth, safety, and hope. Finding another Guardian had been like finding lost treasure. Returning to the Tower and feeling the Traveler's Light had been like returning to the home she hadn't realized she'd left. And Max's hug - that had been the best of all. Max was surrounded by a Light aura that seemed to blot out the vestiges of Darkness still clinging to her soul. It made her want to laugh and sing. Just being in his presence reassured her, washing away the doubts about herself, who she was, and whether her father was alive.

So she closed her eyes, feeling for Darkness or Light on the space station, safe within Max's aura. Mentally, she touched each ring, following the center column out toward the stars.

On the intact ring, Darkness flowed across her mind, rank with the associated Fallen odor. Sorrel flinched and opened her eyes. She gazed at the ship's ceiling, focusing on that point. Things crawled in that Darkness - lesser beings, and one greater. She could almost see their outlines.

"Yuck," she said. "Fallen."

"Naturally," Max said, watching his screens and making tiny adjustments to the flight yoke. "Why shouldn't every piece of junk in the solar system have scavengers?"

The ship bumped into the dock and halted. Max sat frozen for a moment, watching his screens for damage reports. Then he relaxed and grinned at Sorrel. "No problem. First try. So, how do you know there's Fallen?"

"I learned to sense them," Sorrel said, tapping her forehead. "The whole Hunter thing. They're in the nearest ring, the one with no holes. A bunch of little aliens, and one big one."

Max glanced at the viewscreen, which showed only the docking bay with its broken safety fencing. "You're sure it's Fallen? Not Hive?"

"Hive taste different," Sorrel said. "Like carrion. Fallen taste like armpit."

Max blinked at her, and Sorrel realized how weird that sounded. "No, I don't mean I actually _taste_ them. I sense them and it triggers a smell. It's hard to describe."

He nodded slowly. "Must be an Awoken thing. Anyway, let's get our helmets on. Did you bring weapons?"

Sorrel pulled on her helmet and had Vox transmat her new rifle into her hands. It was a good, sturdy scout rifle with a scope. She also had a sub-par wire rifle she had scavenged from a Fallen Vandal, but she didn't mention it. It worked as well as a bludgeon as it did a firearm.

They left the ship and sailed in zero-G into the docking station. An airlock had once sealed the entrance, but it had been blasted open, the hallway beyond filled with floating dust and the remains of the door. Max and Sorrel swam through it, struggling to see as the darkness closed in.

Their Ghosts ignited their headlights. In their glow, the two Hunters picked their way into the main corridor that ran up the station's center. Once, the long, tube-shaped passage had held cargo. But all that remained were a scattering of empty crates, their shells still bolted to the floor.

"Which way?" Max asked.

Here, inside the ship, the reek of Darkness was as plain to Sorrel as the location of the sun. She almost felt it pressing her down, toward the side of the corridor. "That way," she said. "Up the passage. It feels like an Archon, so be careful."

As they kicked off the walls and floated their way along the station's spine, Max said, "What would an Archon be doing in this wreck? I thought they traveled around with a huge entourage of buddies."

"I don't know," Sorrel replied. "I mean, it feels as black as one, but that doesn't mean it is. I'm counting … fifteen or twenty dregs. No Vandals or Captains. That's weird. Archons don't associate with Dregs."

Max shook his head. "I don't like this. I didn't see their ship, either, but the debris might have disguised it. The ship's scans were clogged."

They fell silent as they neared the first ring. It was joined to the central spindle by four branching arms, each of which contained hallways. One hallway reeked of Fallen-flavored Darkness. It was so strong, Sorrel expected to see Dregs hanging out in the hallway. But no - they were further off, inside the ring. She and Max entered the hallway and half-walked half-floated along.

All the time, Sorrel sensed the movements of the aliens. They milled around, floating here and there, moving quickly, but calmly, as the aliens tended to do when left to themselves.

"I think they're scavenging the electronics," Sorrel whispered.

"Great," Max replied in a low voice. "Maybe a few grenades will clear them out and we can figure out what they stole."

Sorrel gripped her rifle a little tighter. Max's Light aura still surrounded her like an umbrella in a storm, shielding her from the deepening Darkness. He seemed unaware of both Darkness and Light. He was reasonably cautious, of course, but the threat of enemies didn't oppress him the way it did Sorrel. She was beginning to doubt that they could take on the big Fallen, this Archon or whatever he was. Her stomach was beginning to shift, threatening nausea if she took a blast of that Darkness's full strength.

They reached the door at the end of the hall. Like the others, it had once been an airlock, but had been blasted open. Through the pair of broken doors, they could see a bit of hallway and the far wall. Nothing moved. However, the heads-up displays on their helmet screens lit up with swarming red dots.

"Crap, they know we're here," Max said. "Let me go first and soften them up." He held up one hand. An orange fireball-thing began to form, rapidly taking the spiked pineapple shape of a grenade. He grinned at Sorrel through his face shield, then peered around the broken door, into the ring's corridor. He held that position for a few minutes, then lobbed the grenade and ducked back into cover.

Sound didn't travel through vacuum, but Sorrel felt the shock of the explosion through the bulkhead she was steadying herself against. It was followed by lesser vibrations of alien feet and claws as they lunged from wall to wall, leaping into battle. Bright blue arc bolts sailed by the doorway. Max waited. He had shifted from his rifle to a hand cannon with a barrel nearly as long as his arm, with a knife welded to the barrel for stabbing. He held it at the ready in both hands. When the first Dreg came into sight, he fired with a silent flash and jerk of the muzzle. But Sorrel felt an echo of the boom through the wall. The Dreg spun away and bounced out of sight, trailing blue ether like smoke. Globs of purple blood filled the air.

More Dregs attacked. Max crouched in the doorway and picked them off one by one. Sorrel watched through the sights of her scout rifle, just in case any aliens slipped by him.

After a few minutes, the attack stopped.

"I'm picking up chatter on the local frequency," Vox told Sorrel. "The leader of the Fallen is telling them to stop behaving like animals and to use their brains. I think they're setting traps. It's very quiet."

"I'm getting that, too," said Zero over the private team channel. "They're trying to lure us deeper."

"No point in giving them time to prepare," Max said, reloading his hand cannon with a couple of flips of the wrist. "I figure that if the Cryptarchs are going to gift me this stupid gun, I might as well practice with it. Cover me, Sorrel."

She followed him into the ring's broad hallway. Once, it had featured hydroponic gardens under lights all the way down the ring's length, built into recesses in the walls. Now the racks of dead vegetation gave a creepy horror vibe. The floating alien corpses, blood, and ether didn't help.

The sense of stinking Darkness grew worse. Sorrel's nausea grew worse, too, especially as floating blood adhered to her suit like shimmering blisters. She hurried to stay close to Max, sheltering in his Light. To keep her stomach under control, she said, "Why did they gift you that gun?"

"For stopping a thief," Max said shortly. "This cannon is called Crimson, and it's been banned by the Vanguard. But they made a special dispensation for me, because of my position in law enforcement. I'm only to use it offworld. I've had it on the firing range, but this has been the first time I've used it in combat proper."

"Nice paint job."

Max tilted the gun to catch the Ghosts' headlights. The barrel gleamed with silver scrollwork in floral patterns. "Thanks! There's this guy in the Tower named Marcus who does the best mods you've ever seen."

He braced a foot against a pillar to propel himself forward, but Sorrel caught his shoulder. "Wait."

They floated there in the hallway as Sorrel studied the path ahead through her rifle scope. The hazy ether made it hard to see, but she dimly sensed movement up ahead - and the faint, telltale glow of trip mines.

"Mines," she whispered. "Go carefully."

Max made a sound halfway between a growl and a groan. "Where do they get the materials for these explosives? Always explosives." He led the way, floating cautiously along the wall, with Sorrel keeping a little to his right and behind, rifle ready to raise and shoot.

The first trip mine was a small metal rod with a motion trigger attached to one end. This sent out a nearly-invisible laser beam. Breaking the beam would set off the explosive. The only reason they saw it at all was because of the haze of ether hanging in the vacuum. Max carefully propelled himself over the beam, and Sorrel followed.

They found three more, set at crazy angles that forced the Guardians to duck and weave their way down the passage. As they advanced, Sorrel sensed the presence of Darkness so strongly that she kept involuntarily holding her breath. Her HUD showed enemies just up ahead. One of them must be the leader.

Max halted and summoned another Light grenade. He balanced it in his fingertips a moment, measuring the distance on his own HUD. Then he threw the grenade ahead of them, down the hall, into the dimness.

The grenade spun down the middle of the hall, shedding a fiery light as it went. Then it struck something and exploded.

In the flash of light, the Guardians saw four or five Dregs go flying until they hit the walls, all of them spewing blood and ether. But behind them floated another figure - the outline of a huge alien, wearing the fur cloak and armor of a captain. He was so big that he filled the hall from floor to ceiling, and he gripped an arc lance in either set of hands.

"That's the big one," Sorrel said. The words seemed a pathetic description of the huge alien and of the deep Darkness surrounding him. He must be especially evil to carry so much of it with him.

"Sorrel, be careful," Vox whispered in her mind. "My connection with the Traveler is being blotted out. I'll have a harder time healing or reviving you."

Sorrel nodded. She was less concerned for herself than for Max. He may emit a Light aura that burned against the Darkness, but it also meant that he didn't sense the Darkness the way she did. She couldn't bear the thought of that lovely, warm Light being snuffed out by the wickedness that awaited them.

"Max ..."

"Darkness aura, got it," he said. "Zero just let me know. Do we have a strategy, here?"

The alien was invisible in the gloom in the depths of the passage. Sorrel sensed him moving toward them. Her skin crawled. He was so huge and dangerous, and yet she couldn't see him. It was like having a poisonous spider in her bedroom at night, knowing it was there, yet unable to tell where it was.

"Lots of bullets," Sorrel said. She lifted her rifle and fired once.

The muzzle flash illuminated the hall. The Fallen Captain was only twenty feet away and floating toward them, spears held ready. Her bullet struck an energy shield surrounding him, making it flash a shimmering, electrical blue.

Sorrel and Max both fired into that shield, trying to overload it and knock it out. Fallen had devices that created these force fields out of arc energy. They were adept at soaking up damage for a few minutes, but eventually the battery would give out.

The Captain knew this. He sprang at the Guardians, slashing with his spears. The helmet and breathing apparatus over his face hid the tell-tale blue glow of his eyes, and he said nothing.

Max and Sorrel dodged. For a long minute, the universe narrowed down to that hallway, the Guardians spinning and jumping in zero gravity, trying to avoid those spears, trying to shoot the alien point-blank while trying not to harm each other. One of Max's solar knives flashed past Sorrel's helmet. The alien grunted in pain.

Sorrel summoned her Void Sword. It wasn't perfect yet, just a slice of star-filled purple Light that somewhat resembled a sword. She gestured at the alien. The sword mimicked her movement, lashing out in an arc that sliced the head off the nearest spear. She slashed at the alien with it, but he blocked the blow with the handle of the broken spear. Then he jabbed her in the stomach with it.

Her focus broke and the sword vanished. Sorrel flew backward and collided with the bulkhead - or had it once been the floor? Disoriented, she slowly spun in place, coughing, trying to regain her breath. Nearby, Max crashed into another wall, striking his head on a metal ladder. He went limp, Crimson drifting from his grasp. His Light aura dimmed to nothing.

The alien ignored Max and pounced on Sorrel. One of the huge hands closed around her neck, and the other hands caught her arms and legs, holding her still. The helmeted head stooped close to hers, the faint glow of the four blue eyes visible within.

"Awoken," said the alien in guttural English. "Female. And a Guardian." He laughed, an awful, wheezing, gurgling sound. Worse, his Darkness aura enveloped Sorrel until she thought she might suffocate. She gasped for breath and tried to hold back the horrible nausea that swept through her. The blow her stomach had taken didn't help. She struggled against his powerful grip, but he was far stronger than she.

"When the Prison of Elders fell, I was freed," the alien hissed in her face. "I am Ravicks, Devourer of Hearts. For many years, I feasted on the hearts of the mightiest Awoken warriors. But long have I craved the flesh of a Guardian, that I might taste your Light."

One of his lower arms drew a long, jagged knife from a sheath at his hip.

"Max!" Sorrel gasped. "Vox, what's wrong with Max?"

"Knocked out," Vox said in her head. "Zero is trying to revive him. Use your Light to fight off this alien!"

Sorrel tried, but the choking Darkness combined with the hand around her throat made the Light impossible to reach. It was as if she had gone blind and deaf.

The knife pierced through her suit and breastplate, into skin and muscle beneath. Sorrel screamed and thrashed, but Ravicks only laughed. Her suit vented oxygen in a sharp hiss, and her lungs emptied.

Suddenly Max's Light aura sprang to life. Max righted himself, snatched Crimson from where it was floating away, and unloaded a three-round burst into the alien's back.

The arc shield failed, and the bullets went home. Ravicks convulsed and hissed, dropping Sorrel. He whirled around to backhand Max, then leaped away down the passage toward the exit hall, trailing ether from his damaged suit. He charged straight through the lasers of the tripmines, setting them off in silent explosions that shook the hall and filled it with smoke. Great holes appeared in the walls, giving glimpses of the starlight outside.

Vox appeared at once, playing her beam across Sorrel's suit and armor, repairing the damage, knitting the flesh beneath. Sorrel's suit re-pressurized, but her HUD indicated that she only had three minutes of oxygen left.

"Sorrel," Max panted, holding her arm, trying to shield her from flying debris. "What did he do to you?"

"He was going to cut out my heart," Sorrel gasped. "He said he eats the hearts of Awoken warriors. Max, I'm almost out of air."

"Transmat?" Max asked.

"I can't," said Vox, still sweeping her Guardian with beam after beam. "There's no transmat network here. We can only do it close to the ship, where I can connect to its computer."

Max swore under his breath. "Zero, scan those computers over there and catch up as quick as you can. I'm going to take Sorrel back to the ship before she suffocates. Come on!"

The zero-gravity dash back through the ring, the adjoining hallway, and down the ship's spine remained a nightmare in Sorrel's memory for years afterward. The smoke, ether, and blood combined into a blind fog that they groped through, following the wall. Her oxygen meter ticked relentlessly downward with every breath. She still felt that cold, sharp knife slashing into her like a scalpel, meaning to cut through her rib cage and lay bare her heart. Adrenaline pounded through her. The only good thing was that the sense of Darkness had departed with Ravicks, leaving only Max's Light aura. His Light burned like fire with his fury and fear, empowering Vox's healing, adding extra strength to Sorrel's muscles as she kicked off the walls, propelling herself onward.

They arrived at the docking bay with only seconds left on the clock. Vox transmatted them both inside. Then Sorrel had a bad moment when she couldn't undo the clasps on her helmet. Her oxygen gave out. She fought with her suit, her lungs trying and trying to draw in air. But what filled her lungs was carbon dioxide, a blank, choking gas.

Max realized what was wrong. He tore the clasps open and pulled off her helmet. Sorrel sucked in a breath of the ship's atmosphere and almost sobbed in relief. She reached out blindly to steady herself against something and encountered Max's arm. She pulled herself up to him, wrapped her arms around him, and hung on, burying her face against his shoulder.

Max held her, stroking her hair. They floated there together in the middle of the ship's loading bay, and the only sound was Sorrel's near-sobs.

After a while, Max pulled off his own helmet with one hand and leaned his cheek against hers. "It's all right," he whispered. "Breathe. It's all right."

Sorrel focused on simply breathing. Slowly the panicked catch in her chest quieted. Max was solid and comforting, his Light now a steady warmth that soothed away her fear and pain. She found herself dazedly wondering why she didn't hug him more often.

As she calmed, her rational mind began to reassert itself, telling her that the reason she didn't hug him was because he had feelings for her and she didn't want to give the wrong impression. She pushed back against this. _"I was just stabbed by an alien who wanted to eat my heart."_ And she clutched Max a little tighter. He made no move to let her go.

After what seemed like a long time, Zero appeared in a flash of transmat particles. She spun her blue shell merrily, seeing the two of them holding each other. When she flew into Sorrel's line of sight, she wore such a huge smile emote that Sorrel was embarrassed.

Sorrel abruptly released Max and turned away. "Thanks," she murmured.

Max followed her, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Will you be all right?"

Sorrel nodded and propelled herself to the copilot's seat. "Let's get out of here."

"No need to tell me twice," Max agreed. He strapped himself into the pilot seat. "Zero, learn anything?"

The Ghost floated up to hover above his hand. "Other than how cute you two are together?"

Max glanced at Sorrel, a little red rising into his cheeks. "I mean about our mission. Sunbreakers."

Sorrel made a show of adjusting her harness straps just so. Why was Zero acting that way? Didn't she know Sorrel wasn't romantically interested in Max? She'd needed a hug, that was all.

"I found a few things," Zero said. "All of them are interesting." She projected a hologram of a database. As she spoke, she highlighted tables, one by one. "The space station was one of the big Sunbreaker towns. Not quite a city, but it was close. When the Cabal showed up and the Light failed, the Sunbreakers fought to protect the weaker of their numbers - women, children, and so forth. They managed to evacuate them, but the Sunbreakers lost nine-tenths of their numbers."

"Any mention of Tony Atkin?" Sorrel asked.

Zero highlighted another table. "He left with the evacuees as a guard. The last record of him is that he had them set course for the Reef. The shuttles only had enough fuel to go as far as Earth, so he was taking a huge risk. That's all there was."

"The Reef," Max muttered. "Why would he go there? The Awoken don't take in refugees."

"Maybe he decided to try," Sorrel replied. "The Awoken would be unaffected by the Traveler's fall. Alone of the whole solar system, they would be the most likely to fight back against the Red Legion."

"Maybe when Mara Sov was alive," Max said doubtfully. "Zero, anything else?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Zero said. "The occupying Fallen had left some of their own equipment behind. That Captain was called Ravicks the Butcher. He escaped from the Prison of Elders when Uldren Sov broke out. He used to be an upstanding member of the House of Wolves, but when Mara Sov died, he went off the rails with the rest of them. He believes that eating the hearts of his enemies gives him their strength. He was incarcerated and sentenced to reeducation, but it doesn't seem to have worked. He, uh." Zero glanced at Sorrel. "He was looking for news of Tony Atkin. Apparently his heart is next on the menu."

Sorrel went cold and sick inside. She sat very still, one hand gripping a strap of her flight harness. She once again felt that knife cutting into her, but this time she envisioned it happening to an Awoken man, held down by Dregs, struggling and screaming.

Max, however, raised an eyebrow. "The Red War was four years ago. How do we know Atkin is still alive, let alone hanging around the Reef?"

"We don't," said Zero. "But do you want to take the chance that Ravicks might find him first?"

Max and Sorrel exchanged glances. Sorrel had to swallow before her voice decided to work. "It's a lead. He was alive four years ago. Maybe the Awoken know where he went."

Max inclined his head. "It's worth a shot." He gestured to Zero. "Help me plot a course. The Reef's a big place, and I don't even know where to start."


	6. I almost kissed her

Zero pulled up a map of the asteroid belt and the section where Earth's evacuation fleet had died during the Collapse. There, among the asteroids and derelict colony ships, the Awoken had built a frightening, cobbled-together home of asteroids, ship parts, and miles of steel cable. It was wrapped in an atmosphere thin as gossamer, held in place by machines and the power of the tech witches.

As Sorrel gazed at it, the stories she'd heard of the Reef as a child warred with the stories she'd heard as a Guardian. A Paradise of the Awoken - or a freezing, hellish place without its Queen. A place of solitude and meditation - or a lawless frontier full of cutthroats. The birthplace of her grandmother - and the grave of Uldren Sov.

Her father might be out there, unaware of his daughter's search. He was also unaware that a Fallen convict infused with Darkness was hunting him, intending to cut out his heart. What did that mean for a Guardian? Would Ravicks wait until Tony resurrected, then take his heart again? Was Tony doomed to some kind of Promethean torture with his body being cut to pieces over and over?

She tried to reconcile this with her old mental image of her father, the Sunbreaker, who had left his family for the sake of his career. But even an amoral Sunbreaker didn't deserve to be tortured and killed over and over. Wouldn't the Ghost eventually die, too?

She held on as the ship maneuvered away from the wreckage of the space station and out into clear space. Once they had left the LaGrange point, Max began the NLS jump.

"It'll take seven hours to get there," Max said. "We have a straight shot with no course corrections. Want to grab dinner? Zero can watch the instruments."

Sorrel wasn't hungry, but she was parched with thirst. She accepted a bottle of water and hooked herself into one of the seats in the tiny galley. The table was metal, and their food items socketed into magnetic holders that stuck them to the tabletop.

Max glided into the seat opposite Sorrel's and latched the seat's hooks onto his belt. "There," he said, unscrewing the top on a container of ready-made soup. "Something about fighting bad guys and getting scared to death really burns the calories."

"You were scared?" Sorrel said, sipping her water. "You sure acted confident, even during the fight."

Max rubbed the back of his head. "Well. I wasn't worried about the Dregs, so much. But when that Captain came after us …" He swigged his soup and chewed for a moment. "Did I ever tell you about the Vandal that followed me to my apartment and almost bit my arm off?"

"Your apartment?" Sorrel said. "In the Last City?"

Max told her the story - how as a half-sick human, he had unraveled his uncle's mysterious murder and wound up with an alien trying to kill him. But when he reached the part about Zero transmatting furniture on top of the alien, Sorrel started laughing. This set off Max, and soon they were both howling.

"That is the best thing I've ever heard," Sorrel said, wiping tears from her eyes that threatened to cloud her vision. "Vox, take notes."

"I am!" her Ghost replied. "Zero, that's brilliant."

"Thank you!" Zero called from the cockpit.

"So, wait," Sorrel said. "Zero wasn't bonded to you yet? And she fought for you?"

Max nodded. "She was crazy about me from the moment we met. I didn't understand for a long time. I mean … how do you explain this Guardian and Ghost thing we have going on? I thought she wanted to enslave me to the Traveler."

Sorrel went still and quiet. Funny how Max had a way of putting her own fears into a few blunt words.

Max didn't notice her discomfort. "So, the Vandal almost chewed my arm off. I had to have surgery to put it back together, and it still wasn't right until after Zero and I bonded. Then she finally was able to heal it properly." He held up his left hand and flexed it. "I couldn't even make a proper fist. Nerve damage."

Sorrel reached out and took his hand with its tanned back and knobby knuckles. Her fair blue skin made such a contrast against his. "I never would have guessed."

Max smiled and pressed her hand a little, and kept working on his soup. Sorrel finished her water and decided she was hungry after all. She cut a wedge of cheese, stuck chunks of it to matzah bread, slathered on jam, and devoured the result. Max was dubious until he tried it, too.

"How'd you invent this?" he asked.

"It was my favorite snack as a little kid," Sorrel said. "Mom would give me all the ingredients, and I'd spend an hour putting them together in different ways."

"You could afford cheese?"

"Before the Red War, it wasn't so expensive."

They talked and talked as they ate. Sorrel's tension slowly ebbed in Max's cheerful company. She felt like she'd known him for years - he was simply so sweet and comfortable. Funny, she didn't worry about the possibility of him having feelings for her. He was just Max, her solid friend, and her trust in him was simple and complete.

After they ate, they decided to rest. Max returned to the pilot's seat, which he reclined and stretched out in. Sorrel took the bunk, secured the four hooks that held her in the bunk during zero-G travel, and fell fast asleep.

* * *

As the Guardians rested, their Ghosts had a private conversation over the Light network.

"They get along so well," Vox said. "Do you think they'd make a good match?"

"I have no doubt," Zero replied. "Max is already devoted to her. But these things take time."

"I know," Vox sighed. "When I look into her mind, Sorrel loves him, too - but it's down in a deep place she doesn't understand. It's buried under years of fear. I don't know if finding her father will help with that or not. If he's cruel to her, it might drive her away from everyone. She's still scared of being a Guardian. Max's remark about slavery affected her badly."

Zero was silent for a long moment, gazing at Max as he dozed. He had such long eyelashes, and she adored the way they swept against his cheek. He had reached the age where he needed a woman in his life - a steady, dependable mate who he could lean on when he was tired or burned out. Law enforcement took its mental toll, and he needed a home at the end of the day, and someone who loved him and who he could be at rest with. Sorrel provided that without trying. She and Max already cared for each other and trusted each other implicitly. But Sorrel wasn't ready yet. It was a good thing that Max had the patience of the Nine.

"Have you talked to her about what being a Guardian means?" Zero asked.

"Some," Vox replied. "We talked a lot out in the wilds. But she sort of … discounts my opinion? Because I'm a Ghost. She thinks that I'm in league with the Traveler, so of course I'd say it's not slavery. It's so frustrating. I tried to explain how we Ghosts don't know much about the Traveler, and she discounts that, too."

"I know she's been yours since she was young," Zero said. "But she was raised to resent Guardians because of the way her father abandoned her and her mother. At the same time, she had you in her head. You know the old proverb: train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

"I want her to depart from it," Vox said softly. "She's half-afraid of her own Light. It's why she can't manifest her sword properly. But I don't know how to change any of that. I'm only her Ghost."

"Just be her friend," Zero said with a sigh. "You want her to mature, and she has a long way to go. So does Max. But it's such a joy to watch your Guardian grow and develop."

"It is," Vox agreed. "I'm going to rest now."

The conversation over, Zero directed her attention to the instruments, and to watching Max sleep. She could feel her Light quietly synchronizing with his. Four years of being together, and their neural bond was still developing. Zero let herself go quiet and passive, allowing her mind to meld with his, developing the link a little further.

Half-asleep, she roused when the ship's computer pinged, alerting her that they were nearing their destination. Zero confirmed the drop out of NLS in two minutes. Then she flew down and touched her eye to Max's cheek in a Ghost kiss. "Wake up, love. We're nearly there."

He opened his eyes and smiled at her sleepily. Then he worked the controls to lift the seat, where he rubbed his bleary eyes until he could see the controls.

"I'm going to need some hot caffeine before I can face the Reef," Max said. "What happened to those packets of instant coffee?"

"I'll bring you one," Zero said, and flew to the galley. While there, she checked on Sorrel and Vox. They were both asleep, with Vox anchored against Sorrel by catching her shell under one of the restraint hooks.

Instant coffee wasn't the same as the expensive variety grown in the City hothouses. This was a synthetic flavoring, derived from yeast and wheat, that tasted enough like coffee to sell to Guardians stocking their ships with supplies. Infused with five times more caffeine than actual coffee, it could put the most weary Guardian back on their feet.

Each vacuum-proof bottle had a heat pack at the bottom. When Zero transmatted the bottle into his hands, Max twisted the heat pack to start the chemical reaction. After a few minutes, the bottle's contents were nearly boiling. He sipped it and sighed in bliss. "Almost like home. Except my back is killing me from sleeping in this chair."

"I can heal it."

"Wait for the coffee, Zero. Coffee is sacred." Max sipped it with one hand and worked the ship's controls with the other. The blur of color outside the viewscreen faded into a view of the Reef.

It spread out before them, a dense field of asteroids, ship parts, and clouds of oxygen and dust. Deep within the chaos was an artificial rotating torus where many Awoken lived and raised their families. Somewhere even deeper lay the Dreaming City, but it was well known that a Guardian had to have the exact coordinates to find it. Plenty of other places existed with gravity and atmosphere, but they were for mining or farming. Many places had been assembled out of rock and metal with the intent of future terraforming, but remained empty, or had become the lair of pirates or Fallen. The most notorious of these was the Tangled Shore, once home to many Awoken, now a lawless frontier presided over by the greedy Eliksni known as Spider.

Max had read all this, but had never been to the Reef, himself. As he flew toward the glittering rocks and metal, he said, "Where to, Zero?"

"The Dasa compound," Zero said at once. "It's the only Guardian foothold in the Reef, and we can fly there without being warned off by Awoken fighters. I don't think we could learn what we need at the Vestian Outpost, but we might try there next."

"I don't want to get involved with the Prison of Elders," Max muttered. "I know they've restored security by now and so forth. And they could probably tell us more about Ravicks. But … that's where they sent Erica."

He felt Zero's silent dismay like a chill in the back of his mind. Erica West had been his first crush and girlfriend … and she had dumped him when he was diagnosed with cancer. She had gotten involved with Owl Sector and pushed even their permissive standards, finally causing an intersolar incident between the City and the Reef. The Awoken had tried her and sent her to the Prison of Elders. Max didn't know her sentence length and didn't want to know. The thought of her was still confusion and pain inside him. If she had been his only experience with women, he might have become bitterly discouraged about his prospects - she had been a ruthless gold digger. But thankfully, Sorrel had entered his life, as innocent and unassuming as Erica had been conniving.

No, they would stay far away from the Prison of Elders, unless it was to throw Ravicks back inside. But Max planned to simply empty a Golden Gun into the alien's skull and leave the carcass for the buzzards. Even now, the memory of the huge alien bent over Sorrel with his knife carving her open sent waves of furious fire through Max. He had to tend Sorrel, first, making sure she escaped to the ship with enough oxygen - so he hadn't had time to process that single, horrible moment. The alien was an efficient butcher. And Max meant to end his wretched, evil life. He'd seen a lot of criminals in the City - some of them starving and desperate, turning to crime because they had nothing else. Some of them hated what they were doing. Some of them justified it as misunderstood, usually the ones smuggling drugs. But every so often there were the ones with no soul left, the hardened criminals who could lie while looking an interrogator in the eye, who had no notion of right or wrong anymore, who did as they wished because they thought they deserved to. Those were the ones Max didn't turn his back on. When they received the death penalty, which was most of the time, he slept easier at night. This alien was one of them.

As Max studied Zero's proposed course through the Reef to the Dasa compound, Sorrel called sleepily, "Is that coffee I smell?"

"Zero can show you where it is," Max called over his shoulder. "Then come strap in. We've just reached the Reef."

A moment later, Sorrel appeared, smiling as she slid into the copilot's seat. She held up the coffee bottle. "How do I do this?"

Max demonstrated with his own. A moment later, Sorrel was sipping her coffee and watching the asteroids of the Reef gradually spread out as they approached. Max was happier just having her there. Sorrel had taken a little time to brush and tie back her hair, so it didn't float around and develop tangles. Max found her fetching and girlish that way, and he furtively admired her as they flew.

"I never thought I'd be here," Sorrel said, her glowing green eyes fixed on the home of her ancestors. "Mother always discouraged my interest in the Reef, insisting that the Reefborn would never let me near. But here I am, about to explore it for myself. Maybe find my father." She turned to Max with a beseeching smile. "Will you stay with me, even if I wander around a bit? I feel like … like I could understand more about myself here."

"Whatever you need," Max said. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

Sorrel gazed at him for a moment, her smile fading. She returned her gaze to the Reef. "I'm afraid you'll be the one in danger here, Max. But … I won't let them hurt you, either."

This came as a shock to Max, who hadn't thought that far ahead. Sorrel was Awoken and he was human. Of course, the Awoken wouldn't be pleased to see him. They might tolerate Sorrel, because of her grandmother … but as a vanilla human, Max was nothing.

He had stopped thinking of Sorrel as Awoken, and he never saw her scars unless she mentioned them. She was just who she was, and he adored every move she made, every word she said. Having to remember that she was a different race was a rude awakening to a reality he had forgotten about.

He didn't say any more, pretending to concentrate on following the nav points Zero had dropped into the ship's computer. But inside, he was awkward and off-balance, suddenly uncertain how to even talk to Sorrel anymore. Should he treat her differently? Did she think of him as second-class because of his race? A lot of vile thoughts filled his head that he'd never worried about before.

Neither of them spoke for a while. It wasn't until they were surrounded by vast floating rocks and jagged ship carcasses that Sorrel said, "It's so strange. I've had dreams about this place. I feel like I've been here before."

"In a good way?" Max said, still unsure what to say.

Sorrel shook her head a little. "In a foreboding way. They were the kind of dreams that you know will turn to nightmares sooner or later." She glanced at Max. He must have looked odd, because she tilted her head and said, "What's wrong?"

Max gulped. "Well, uh. I kind of forgot that I'm human and you're Awoken."

Sorrel nodded.

Max watched his nav points. "They won't … shoot me on sight or anything, will they?"

"I hope not," Sorrel murmured. "You're also a Guardian. So am I. I don't think they care what race we are. They don't like Guardians, period."

"Unconventional Guardians who weren't resurrected," Max said with a sudden grin. "I doubt they care, though." He gave her a quick glance. "Do … do you care?"

"About what?" Sorrel said.

"That I'm …" Max gestured to his face. "Not blue."

Sorrel looked blank for a second. Then she said, "That you're human? Max, we're both human. My ancestors just had a cosmic accident, that's all." She reached over and rested a hand on his arm. "Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it. I've spent years wishing I was human. Maybe I can finally come to grips with that while we're out here."

Somewhat reassured, Max returned to navigating the passage through the Reef to the torus of rock and metal far inside. They came into sight of a huge gravitational lensing ring that magnified the sun's rays, warming this area of the Reef into habitability. Then they wove their way down to the planetoid, the torus rotating like a huge wheel, green and blue, surrounded by clouds in great white swirls.

A voice hailed them on the radio, asking for their destination and call sign. Max identified himself and informed the controller that they were headed for the Dasa compound. The controller gave him coordinates and directed him in.

They flew into the torus's daylight side, dropped to a bank of clouds, and emerged underneath into a gray, cloudy day. Forests and mountains spread out below them, along with the town of Reefedge. The controller guided them to a huge field cleared for jumpships, and Max landed with only a minimal drop onto the landing gear.

Gravity settled them into their seats. When Max stood up, he felt slow and heavy for a moment - then he was relieved to be standing again. He helped up Sorrel, who staggered against him and supported herself on his shoulder for a minute.

"Naturally, my legs instantly cramp," she said. "Vox, can you take care of that?"

As her Ghost swooped around her, healing her with pulses of Light, Max found Sorrel's face inches from his own. He slid an arm around her waist and looked into her green eyes, fringed by heavy black lashes. Her lips were so soft and full. The desire gripped him to pull her closer, nuzzle her, and caress those lips with his own. But the memory of her words from two years ago stopped him cold. _Boys at school kept trying to kiss me, so I started wearing face paint …_

Sorrel met his eyes for a moment, then glanced down at his lips. Then she smiled and said, "Hi." She stood up and pushed away, stamping her feet. Then she walked back through the ship to the bunk, looking for her gear.

Max stood there, gazing after her. Inside his head, he said, "I almost kissed her, Zero. It was like this reflex."

"Why didn't you?" Zero asked.

"Because she'd hate me. I'd be like all those other boys who tried to take advantage of her." Max straightened his back and felt it pop. The ache that had been bothering him faded. But now his heart ached and he didn't know how to fix it. He busied himself by putting on his helmet and cloak, and packing the ammo pouches on his belt.

Sorrel reappeared, wearing her own helmet and with the heavy woolen cloak draped around her. "This place is friendly, right? Why all the ammo?"

"Doesn't hurt to be prepared," Max said. "You can never have too much ammo. Zero's carrying synths, too. Does Vox need some?"

"No, we stocked up before the trip." Sorrel seemed preoccupied, her voice trailing off. But with her helmet on, Max couldn't read her expression. "Ready when you are."

Max led the way through the airlock, which wasn't as necessary on a planetoid with atmosphere. Outside, it was gray and chilly, with a sharp breeze that cut through their armor and thermal undershirts. They wrapped their cloaks around themselves and made for the Dasa compound.


	7. Knowledge of Tony Atkin

Sorrel had read the story of the Dasas, how they had been a rich mafia family who owned most of the businesses in the Reef. But one son had turned his back on his family's greed, joined Prince Uldren's spy network, and been killed on Earth. Later resurrected as a Guardian, he found his way back to his clan in search of answers, only to be shunned - his position as the eldest son threatened the inheritance his siblings had received.

Then the Hive god, Oryx, the Taken King, invaded the Reef during the Battle of Saturn. Thousands of Awoken were Taken or killed. The entire Dasa clan fell to Oryx's dark power. When the dust settled, the only one left was the disinherited Guardian. He was more or less forced to assume control of the Dasa businesses, where he cleaned out corruption, sold off most of the businesses he couldn't manage, and opened the Dasa mansion to the Vanguard.

Sorrel had held up this story to her mother as an example of the Reef accepting a lowly Guardian. Her mother had argued that business was different from social life, and that the Guardian was probably still shunned by the Reefborn.

And now, Sorrel would see this for herself, perhaps even meet Lord Dasa in person. She had so many questions. If anybody would know about a refugee Sunbreaker, Lord Dasa would.

Behind that, however, was the shocking memory of being so close to Max. She'd been overwhelmed with the desire to stroke his little beard and see if it was as soft as the day she'd returned home. And he had nice lips. Traveler's Light, what was wrong with her? Max was her _friend_. You didn't kiss your _friends_. She'd never wanted to kiss anyone until the moment she'd looked into his eyes from a few inches away. They were such a vivid blue.

She slapped the side of her helmet, trying to drive these thoughts and feelings away. "Vox," she thought, "I don't want this. If I give in, it'll wreck our friendship. He'll just … just see me as an object, not a person. Then he'll leave."

"Would he?" Vox replied. "It's a very serious matter, Sorrel. You should talk to him about it."

"He'll lie," Sorrel thought bitterly. "He'll say he'd never leave. But he would. Dad did."

"Max and Tony are two different people," Vox pointed out. "Isn't that why we're looking for your father? To hear his side?"

Sorrel didn't answer. Her old fears of being objectified and abandoned swarmed to the surface and choked her. She hugged her cloak a little tighter around her until she remembered that Max had given it to her. _To remind you that you have friends_.

Which way did she turn? She thought she trusted Max, but she didn't trust him with herself. She'd asked him to come with her on this excursion, but had that been the best choice? She wanted to cry, but it would wet the inside of her helmet, and she didn't want to try to clean it.

"Sorrel," Vox said very softly inside her head. "He could have kissed you. And he didn't. He respects you that much."

This revelation came as an enormous relief. _He could have and he didn't_. Maybe Sorrel hadn't made the biggest mistake of her life. Maybe she could trust Max after all. Maybe. She glanced at him as they walked. With his helmet on, she couldn't see his face, but he walked with his head up, gazing around with active curiosity.

"This looks like a nice area," he remarked, sensing her attention. "No graffiti on the compound walls up there. Nice landscaping. I wonder what the Reefedge crime rate is like?"

Thinking like a detective, as usual. Once more, they were back to being comfortably friends.

This woke Sorrel from her introspection enough to notice their surroundings. A wall of white stone spread out before them, with green trees visible above it. The gates stood open, and as they approached, a Guardian on a sparrow flew out. He waved to them and zipped away toward town in the distance.

"Looks like the right place," Max said with a grin in his voice.

"I've always wanted to see this place," Sorrel said, and launched into the story of the Dasa clan. She talked as they entered the gates and followed a gravel path through rolling parkland. As she finished her story, they arrived at the mansion known as the Dasa compound.

It was built of the same white stone, with tall, narrow windows, and Grecian pillars along the front, supporting a domed roof. The long porch was adorned by huge stone urns with flowering bushes in each. The front doors were large enough to admit a delivery truck, and they were wide open. The Hunters climbed the steps and walked in.

They stepped into a huge marble-paved hall. Staircases flowed away to the right and left in grand curves. Overhead, a chandelier made of blue crystal shed a soft light. Directly opposite the door, fiercely modern in such surroundings, was a huge touch screen with several Guardians clustered around it. It displayed lists of bounties and jobs, and a ticker along the top displayed stock prices.

"Bounties I can see," Sorrel remarked as they approached the screen. "But why would Guardians be interested in the Awoken markets?"

"Investments," Max said, watching the ticker. "When your average lifespan is a few thousand years, a nest egg here and there isn't such a bad idea." He glanced over the bounties. "Nothing here that helps us. I wonder who we could talk to?"

They moved away from the screen and stood gazing around. Aside from a few Guardians around the screen, or sitting on nearby benches with their Ghosts out, there didn't seem to be any Dasa staff in sight.

Just as Sorrel was about to suggest exploring the compound room by room, a Ghost flew up to them. He wore a dark green shell with armored rivets on each segment. "Hello!" he said. "Welcome to the Dasa compound. May I help you?"

"Yes," said Sorrel. "We're trying to find a Guardian. His last known destination was the Reef, four years ago."

"Hm, the Red War," said the Ghost. "Does he have a name?"

"Tony Atkin," Sorrel said. "Sunbreaker."

The Ghost flinched backward, pulling his shell segments inward. "Uh … I'm sorry … I can't help you."

"Please!" Sorrel exclaimed, stepping toward the Ghost. "If he's dead, just tell me."

The Ghost looked at her for a moment. "You know … I'd better let you talk to my Guardian. This way, please."

The Ghost led them up the right-hand staircase. As they followed him, Max whispered, "What do you think he knows?"

"Dad must not be dead," Sorrel whispered back. "But what if he's an outlaw?"

"We'll deal with it once we know more," Max whispered back.

They reached the top of the stairs and found an entire lounge room on the landing. Comfortable-looking chairs and sofas formed a loose square with a wet bar in the far corner. Light streamed in from a tall window. Standing near the bar, glass in hand, was Lord Dasa.

Sorrel couldn't have explained how she knew it was him. Maybe it was the haughty expression, or the perfectly combed black hair with white streaks in it. It might have been the black suit with crimson lining. The man's whole bearing spoke of one accustomed to authority and being obeyed.

This image was only slightly ruined by the Ghost flying up to hover over his outstretched hand. Suddenly, Sorrel saw him as a Guardian in a suit, which confused her.

The Ghost and Lord Dasa communicated in silence for a moment. Then the Ghost moved to float at Dasa's left shoulder. Dasa set aside his glass, faced the Guardians and bowed slightly, one hand before his face, Awoken-fashion. "Welcome to my home, friends. I am Kymil Elvaris Dasa." Then he straightened and his voice lost the sophisticated Awoken inflection. Instead, he spoke like a City native. "Couple of Hunters, huh? Awesome. Helmets off, please. Let's have a look at you."

Sorrel hesitantly lifted off her helmet, exposing her awful scars for the world to see. Max removed his, too.

Dasa gazed at Sorrel for a second longer than he did Max, but he made no comment about her appearance. "Call me Ferral. It's my Guardian name. How about you two?"

"I'm Max Ross," said Max, "and this is Sorrel Atkin. This whole trip is her business."

Ferral's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Sorrel … Atkin?"

She nodded. "Tony Atkin is my father. I'm trying to find him."

Instead of answering, Ferral turned to the bar. "Can I get you anything? Drinks? Snacks?"

"A drink," said Max, "as long as it's non-alcoholic."

"Same for me," Sorrel said.

Ferral gave them a disbelieving look over his shoulder. "Hunters who don't drink? Honestly." He reached into the cabinet and lifted out two bottles of fruit juice. He mixed something purple with something yellow, and passed it to the Guardians in cut crystal glasses. He added a tray of cookies that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Kind of weird to be waited on by Lord Dasa himself," said Max.

Ferral took a chair near theirs and scored a handful of cookies. "I missed lunch and I was sneaking a snack out here. All right. Sorrel, tell me more about your mission. Did the Vanguard send you?"

"No, this was my idea," Sorrel said. "My father left my mother and I when I was little. A Ghost found me about a year after that … but I grew up hating Guardians because it made Dad leave. I wanted to find him and … and talk. Straighten things out."

"Huh." Ferral ate a cookie as if using it as cover. He looked at Max. "What's your part in this?"

"Fireteam support," Max said. "She didn't want to go alone."

Ferral nodded and brushed crumbs off his suit. After a moment, he held up a hand and summoned a lethal-looking knife made of Void light. He spun it in place with one finger. Watching the knife, he said, "What do you know about Tony Atkin?"

Sorrel watched the knife in a mixture of nervousness and admiration. Her Void sword wasn't nearly so crisply imagined. Was he going to throw it at her?

"He's a Sunbreaker," Sorrel said slowly. "We tracked him to an evacuation shuttle headed to the Reef four years ago. That's all we know."

Ferral grunted and twirled his knife. After a moment, he said, "Tony Atkin has caused a delicate political situation here in the Reef. I'm hesitant to get involved. Or let you get involved."

Max straightened, gaze sharpening. His detective training was snapping into gear, Sorrel knew. "What sort of situation?"

Ferral halted the knife and spun it the opposite direction. "Tony Atkin was famous in his past life. As Tyrone Lanceborn, he was a defender of the Awoken people. Often he stood alone between a village and an attack of the Fallen … and he would win the battle. You know the stories about Saint-14? He was the Saint-14 of the Awoken."

Sorrel blinked. She'd never considered that her father might have a past … or that he could be a beloved hero.

"Waiting for the other shoe to drop," Max said. "What'd he do, pull a Dregden Yor?"

Ferral smiled with half his face, still spinning the knife. "Tyrone Lanceborn fell in battle and was raised as a Guardian calling himself Tony Atkin. As Guardians do, he left the Reef and went to the defense of the Last City. But even this new life could not erase the duty he felt toward his people. He trained as a Sunbreaker and returned often to the Reef. He was instrumental in hunting down and locking away the Scorn Barons. He helped incarcerate Uldren Sov, himself. But then … then came the Red War."

Ferral erased his knife and ate another cookie, leaving Sorrel and Max waiting for more. Sorrel sipped her juice and found it sweet and fragrant - a blend of some variety of fruit unique to the Reef.

After a while, Ferral went on, "Atkin lost everything in the war. Most of the Sunbreakers died or fled. He said that his wife and child died in the invasion. But if you're sitting here, either he lied … or you are."

Sorrel clenched her fists. "My mother and I evacuated. We survived all right, even though things were bad. Don't you dare call me a liar."

Ferral raised a hand. "This is the Reef. I've met a lot of liars and tricksters. I'm willing to let your claim stand, if only because it's so strange that it's probably true. I don't see how claiming to be Atkin's daughter benefits you."

"After the war," Max said, "things were very difficult. Records were lost. Many people lost their official identities. If Atkin was trying to dig through the aftermath, it would be easy to assume that the lack of records meant that his family was dead."

Ferral inclined his head. "I understand that. It's why I didn't put my blades through your skulls. So. The part I'm concerned about is because of what happened after the war."

He paused to take a long drink of whatever was in his own glass. Sorrel and Max exchanged uneasy glances. Ferral was threatening them? What was going on?

Ferral set his glass aside and leaned his elbows on his knees, as if about to share a secret. "Now. The Scorn and Uldren escaped the Prison of Elders with help from Variks, who abandoned his allegiance to the Awoken when Mara Sov died. Uldren killed the entire Reef leadership - the governors, the satraps, everyone. The Reef fractured in confusion. We thought Uldren would declare himself king and seize the throne, but he went off to defile the secret places of the Awoken, instead. Got himself gunned down by avengers of Cayde-6.

"I was one of the few people in authority left, and I had to step in and restore order. Lacking any leadership at all, the Awoken looked to the Guardians for protection. And into this vacuum stepped the resurrected Tyrone Lanceborn, grieving his family. Are you aware of the Firebreak Protocol?"

Max nodded, but Sorrel frowned. "I'm not familiar with it."

Ferral shrugged. "The Firebreak Protocol is for suicidal Guardians. It stipulates that they fight until they die their final death, as long as they take down as many foes as possible along the way. Tony Atkin came here to sacrifice his immortal life, protecting other families because he failed to protect his own."

Sorrel half-stood, joy and horror filling her in equal measure. "But that means - I have to find him! Is he still alive?"

Ferral held up a finger. "That's where it gets delicate. The Awoken people look to him as a legendary hero reborn. However, we have reason to believe that Atkin is involved in the piracy that plagues the Reef. So … pirate or hero, something must be done. However, as acting governor of the Reef, I don't dare move against him or the people will draw and quarter me. So. Whether you are lying or truthful, I will let you search for him. If you're lying, I imagine Atkin will kill you himself. Even if you're telling the truth, I don't know if it will be enough to draw him from his spiral. There are dark forces at work here in the Reef. Riven is dead, yet her whispers continue. Those whose hearts are already darkened by despair are her easy prey. Tread carefully."

Sorrel drained the last of her juice and stood up. "I'm ready. Let's go."

Max raised a hand. "Hold on, Sorrel. We don't even know where to start." As she slowly sat down again, Max said to Ferral, "This is extremely valuable intel. Why are you giving it to us sight unseen? You don't know us."

Ferral shrugged. "You're Guardians. Banner detected no Darkness on you. Atkin is no secret out here in the Reef - people constantly debate whether he's a hero or a rogue. If you want to embroil yourselves in his drama, be my guest."

"That's the thing," Max said. "We met a Fallen Captain with a Darkness aura like an Archon's. He's looking to eat Atkin's heart."

"The Butcher?" Ferral said, straightening in surprise. "You know where he is? I've got a huge price on his head."

"We flushed him out of a Sunbreaker station," Sorrel said. "He was looking up Dad's information, same as us. We think he was headed here."

Ferral was all business now, some of his Awoken accent creeping back. He pulled out a small, round device that reminded Sorrel uncomfortably of a black globe she had interacted with. However, this one was smaller and swirled with symbols. Ferral ran his fingers across it, typing messages. "How long ago?"

"About eight or nine hours, now," Max said.

Ferral entered this into his device. Then he gestured to his Ghost. "Notify Lethia that the Butcher has been sighted. Get the warlocks on it and send messages to Sedia."

"Should I forward it to the top?" Banner said, glancing at the two Hunters.

"No," Ferral said. "No need to trouble _her._ But I want a response from Spider if someone has to hold a gun to his head."

"I wish someone would," Banner muttered, and vanished in a sparkle of light.

Ferral rose to his feet, and his guests followed suit. "If your information is correct, then I'd say I've been well paid for telling you about Atkin. If we move fast, we might end the Butcher before he slaughters any more Corsairs."

"What about Dad?" Sorrel said. "Aren't you worried about him?"

Ferral grinned, swapping back into his Guardian persona. "Atkin threw Ravicks's carapace into the Prison of Elders in the first place. I imagine that's why Ravicks is out for revenge. Get going, you two. Head to the Tangled Shore and chat up Spider. I have to call a meeting with the regional heads. Next time you show up, I hope it's with proof of Ravicks's untimely demise." He started to leave, but seemed to remember his manners. He turned back and said, "Hunter wing is downstairs, third left off the main gallery. Door on the far end connects to the cafeteria. Special today is smoked hind. Light be with you." He strode away into the mansion.

Sorrel waited until he was gone, then whispered, "What's hind?"

"Some kind of deer," Max replied. He scooped up the rest of the cookies. "No point letting these go to waste. Want to try venison before we head out?"

Sorrel wanted to leave immediately and search for her father. But her stomach was also telling her that the only thing she had eaten since waking up had been a container of instant coffee and a glass of juice.

"Food sounds good," she said, and swiped one of Max's cookies.


	8. Lanceborn

Deep in the Reef's tangle of overlapping rock and metal, any number of outlaws could hide like rabbits in a briar patch. It was honeycombed with tunnels, the interiors of ships, unexpected ledges, and chasms opening on outer space. But Ravicks navigated it with the instincts of his kind. He had come to find the biggest outlaw of them all.

Of all the Scorn Barons, only one remained: Fikrul, called the Fanatic by Guardians. Once an Archon of the Fallen, he had been granted the power of corrupted ether by dark powers. This allowed him to resurrect dead Fallen as Scorn - angry, disloyal monsters. Humans called them _zombies,_ but Scorn were worse than that. Fikrul claimed no control over them. He raised armies for the sole purpose of harassing and grieving his enemies, and every Scorn retained their free will.

Fikrul, himself, had been slain and resurrected by his own dark ether multiple times. He worshiped Prince Uldren's memory with slavish devotion, and presided over his Scorn like a witch doctor. The Fallen hated him and had killed him multiple times, too.

When Ravicks approached the cave where Fikrul hid, his way was barred by several Scorn raiders carrying guns and spears. Ravicks opened his four hands to show that he was unarmed. "I wish to speak with Fikrul. There is a small matter that concerns us both."

The Scorn hissed at him. But one raider dissolved into blackish ether and flowed across the ground, into the cave. Ravicks waited, exchanging toothy smiles with the Scorn. Their bodies were lumpy with blue blisters, all blood replaced by dark ether, like reanimated balloons.

But they were powerful. And that kind of power interested Ravicks.

The raider returned in a swirl of black smoke. "Fikrul will see you," he said in a voice that sounded as if he'd been eating broken bottles.

The other raiders moved aside, and Ravicks followed the puff of dark ether into the cave. The passage was lit by light sticks on poles, easily set up and easily broken down. The husks of dead Servitors lay here and there, their insides gutted for parts. Ravicks averted his eyes. Although the Scorn taught that their dependency on machines made them weak, Ravicks still held a reverence for the machine-gods of the Eliksni. Seeing holy Servitors torn apart and sold for scrap angered him. But he buried his loathing and fixed his gaze ahead, refusing to see any more. He was here to speak with Fikrul the Immortal, not pass judgement on his heretical teachings.

Fikrul lurked in a cavern at the back of the cave which was part stone, part spaceship cabin. The leader of the Scorn paced from stone floor to metal floor and back again. The skulls of Guardians and Awoken ringed the walls on stakes, each of them painted and decorated with strips of cloth. A set of Ahamkara bones, etched with script and worn from use, littered the floor. As Ravicks entered, Fikrul picked up the bones and tossed them in the air. They scattered across the floor. Fikrul paced around them, careful not to disturb their positions, reading their symbols and muttering to himself.

"Honorable Father," said Ravicks, although it galled him to use such a title for a traitor to the Eliksni. "I pray that you might speak to me."

Fikrul held a staff in one hand. Now he leaned on it and studied Ravicks through his crown-like mask. "What does a leader of the Fallen want with the Scorn?" He spoke slowly, his breath wheezing with each word.

"Do you know of the Sunbreaker Tony Atkin?" Ravicks said.

Fikrul hissed through his teeth.

Ravicks continued, "I seek to end him and devour his heart. But he is powerful. I come to beg of you a canister of dark ether."

Fikrul drew a wet-sounding breath and exhaled slowly. Then he looked at the bones on the floor. After a long moment, he said, "Your coming unravels a mystery I had been pondering. The bones spoke of you and this Guardian you seek." Fikrul chuckled, gurgling in his throat. "Do you know what will befall you once the dark ether swirls through your veins?"

"I understand what it does," Ravicks growled. "If I am to rise as a Scorn, then rise I shall. But Tony Atkin will lie dead and his ghost shall adorn my skiff."

Fikrul and Ravicks studied each other for a long moment. Then Fikrul gave a gesture with a single lower arm - a shrug. "The canisters of dark ether stand there, in the corner. Take one. This Guardian plagues us all."

Ravicks lifted one of the heavy canisters onto his shoulder and inclined his head. "My thanks, Honorable Father."

Fikrul accepted this with a nod.

But as Ravicks carried away his prize, he heard the rattle of the divining bones on the floor behind him. The sound made him flinch and walk faster.

* * *

The Tangled Shore was a long shelf of more or less flattened asteroids and ships, some stacked in layers, one atop the other. The cables that held them together groaned in the wind, sometimes sounding like the voices of those who had died out there. The wind tore through the Shore constantly, clouds whipping by not far from the ground. Situated on the fringe of the solar lens's warming reach, a constant pressure differential kept the wind churning.

As soon as they left the ship in Thieves Landing, Max envied Sorrel her thick woolen cloak. She wrapped it around herself and looked as warm as toast. Max's cloak, while good for keeping out rain and light winds, did nothing to hold back this constant, vicious beating of cold that tore through the Shore.

"Where do we find Spider?" he said into his helmet radio, teeth already beginning to chatter.

"That way," Zero said, dropping a nav point onto his HUD. It highlighted a cleft in the rocks with an Eliksni clan sign painted near it. It was shaped like a spider.

"Gee," Sorrel said, "you don't think a guy named Spider would have one as his logo, would you?"

"Way too obvious," Max said. "Let's get out of this wind. Think he has eight legs? Or only the usual six?"

"Eight," Sorrel said, as they hurried for the shelter of the cleft. "Four of them will be robotic."

"Want to bet on it?"

"A glass of wine?"

"You're on."

The Guardians ducked into the cleft and escaped the wind's reach. It felt ten degrees warmer inside. They found themselves in a wide passage with a low ceiling, the walls still rough, cratered stone. Crates and containers of the Eliksni lined the walls, some covered by tarps, as if Spider had moved into this cave quickly and didn't intend to stay.

A dark figure moved to block their progress-a Vandal with metal spikes protruding from the armor on his back, making him look like a porcupine. He blocked their way with an electrified spear. "Declare your business."

"We've come to speak to Spider," Sorrel said. "We need information."

The alien slowly grinned, bearing needle-sharp teeth. He lifted his spear away and stepped aside. "Proceed. Make no bargains you cannot keep."

As they walked on, Max glanced back at the guard. "I think Spider is probably a good name for this guy."

"How can we get information without cutting some kind of deal?" Sorrel said in an undertone. "I can pay glimmer, but I can't afford to give up that much."

"We'll see how this goes," Max said. "We can always refuse and walk out."

Sorrel jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Can we, with the spiky boy on guard?"

Max summoned his Golden Gun to one hand and twirled it. "They'd be crazy to cross us." He let it disappear in a flicker of flames. Really, they probably had nothing to worry about … but he had to put on a brave face for Sorrel. Inside, his cop instincts were gnawing him with worry. Low ceiling, no visible exits, long passage back to the surface … this was a bad place for a showdown. Spider had arranged his lair with an eye toward strategy. Max and Sorrel were at his mercy, Guardians or not.

They rounded a bend and arrived in a cavern the size of a garage. Here upon a metal throne with insectoid legs sat a huge Eliksni, his four hands resting on his bulging belly. One hand fiddled with a dead Ghost, rotating the halves of the shell like a puzzle he was trying to solve. More bags of dead Ghosts hung on either side of his throne, for all the world like flies in a cobweb. Two more guards flanked his throne, and a human in armor, helmet, and a thick cloak stood to one side with a tablet. Spider had apparently been talking to her, because they both looked up as the Guardians entered.

"Welcome, my friends," said Spider, his voice somewhat scratchy and gurgly-sounding. His mouthparts weren't designed for human speech, but he managed to speak without much accent. "What brings two Guardians into my home away from home? There hasn't been another breakout from the Prison of Elders, has there?" He chuckled wheezily.

Sorrel stepped forward. "We've come looking for a missing Guardian. We hope you can tell us where he is."

"Ah." Spider adjusted positions, sitting up and leaning forward a little. Max counted his arms. Four, with two legs. He'd won their bet.

"Information is a valuable commodity," Spider said. "As are Guardians. Ahh, let's see. What price to set on this commodity, eh?" He turned to the woman with the tablet. "What do you think, Shank?"

The woman studied them, her helmet's shielded faceplate making her faceless. "They seek one of their own. Since they've come to us, they can perhaps find information no other way. That means that we may set our own price." She passed her tablet to Spider. "Our most pressing bounties, sir."

Spider squinted at the tablet for a moment, clicking his teeth. Then his four eyes brightened. "Ah, yes. Fikrul recently sent us a little gift of Scorn. They plague our northwest shipping line. Send them back to the grave where they belong. Once you return, then we'll talk about your missing Guardian."

Max stared at Shank. Her voice was alarmingly familiar. Goosebumps crawled up his arms. He couldn't see her face, and her gear hid most of her figure. But as she took the tablet back from Spider and tapped the screen, the way she tilted her head was as familiar to him as his own apartment.

Erica West, no longer captive in the Prison of Elders.

He didn't dare say a word for fear that she'd recognize him, too. He nodded and prodded Sorrel's elbow. They turned and started back up the long passage.

"What's wrong?" Sorrel said over their private frequency.

"Not here," Max whispered. "Outside."

He wanted to run all the way back to the surface, but he didn't dare clue in Spider's guards. He strolled beside Sorrel, keeping his body language relaxed and open. But his hands itched for Crimson.

Once they reached the cleft, where the wind howled through the rocks, Sorrel halted. "What's wrong? I know I lost the bet. He only had six limbs, like the rest of the Fallen."

"No, that's not it." Max gulped. "Did you see that woman, Shank?"

"What about her?" Sorrel said. "You can tell he has some kind of hold over her, or she wouldn't be there. She's too professional to be stuck in a cave with a fat alien."

"She's Erica."

Sorrel's head whipped around. "What?"

"Erica West," Max said. His whole face felt frozen and he could hardly move his mouth. "You know. The one who stabbed both of us in the back. Went to prison. That's her."

Sorrel made an inarticulate sound of hatred and gazed back into the cave. "I should go back and put a few bullets in her head. What's she doing out of jail?"

"I imagine she got out when the prison riot happened," Max said, leaning against the cold stone wall. He ran a hand over his helmet, unconsciously checking the clasps. "Do you think she recognized us?"

Sorrel rested a hand on her sidearm for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I think Spider probably screws everybody over. Besides, you didn't say anything. Would Erica recognize your voice?"

"Probably. It's why I kept quiet. Thank the Light I kept my helmet on."

Zero appeared at his shoulder in a flicker of light. Her eye glowed red with anger. "Of all people, why must Erica be here, now? I have records of those letters she sent you, Max. I'll bet she's trying to bully Spider the same way. No, actually, I'm glad she's working for him. One spider deserves another."

Vox appeared beside Sorrel. "You think you have dirt on her, Zero? You don't want to know what she did to me when I was in Owl Sector. I think all of us probably want her dead."

"Dead? No," Max said. "I think … whatever situation she's in right now is probably worse than prison. Think about it. Spider knows she's an escapee. He's probably holding that over her to keep her loyal."

"Good," Sorrel snapped. "She was going to plug me full of Darkness. I still have nightmares from having my mind invaded. Let her stay Spider's pet human for the rest of her life."

While Max agreed, he again sank into the pain, confusion, and bitterness that Erica had inflicted on him. She had tried to control him, dictate every avenue of his life, from who his friends were to lists of behavior rules around Erica, herself. When he protested, she dissolved into tears and claimed that he didn't love her.

Looking back, Max wondered if he ever had, really. She had been more of a fascination and a shield against loneliness rather than a true companion. He'd never been allowed to talk about his own interests - only hers. He'd been reduced to a one-dimensional version of himself in her presence. And when his cushy career with New Monarchy was threatened by cancer, she had dropped him and moved on. Only when she found out that he was a Guardian did she come back, fawning over him and demanding money.

He recoiled from these memories and slammed a mental door on them. A large, heavy door, with multiple locks. Instead, he drew Crimson and checked the magazine. "Let's talk about this later. Right now, we have Scorn to hunt."

"You're really going to do what Spider wants?" Sorrel said. "He might be having us do something criminal, for all we know."

"Scorn are everybody's problem," Max said. "They're undead Fallen. Let's clean them out and see if Spider will play ball."

* * *

The trouble was, it wasn't as simple as clearing out a few Scorn.

The northwest supply line turned out to be a small Awoken spaceport a few miles up the Tangled Shore. A huge crag of a ruined ship stuck out of the ground and extended two miles straight up, providing cover from the wind. The spaceport sheltered in its lee. Ships came and went regularly, delivering supplies to the few Awoken who scratched out a living on the Tangled Shore - mostly Corsairs who kept an eye on the movements of pirates, Fallen, and Spider's dealings. But Spider had regular deliveries of his own that his hired Fallen looked after. They would load everything onto skiffs emblazoned with Spider's logo and haul it all to his lair.

However, lately, the spaceport had been beset by Scorn that lurked among the rocks until a skiff was half-loaded. Then they would swarm out, attack the guards, and try to burn the skiff and its cargo. They'd succeeded once already, and this victory seemed to make them bolder.

When Max and Sorrel reached the spaceport, they found a couple of irate Corsairs on guard outside the fence who told them all this.

The fence was ten feet high and made of jagged metal spikes woven together, more like battlements than a fence. The Corsairs were Awoken women, as was customary with the Reefborn, all of them taller than Max and Sorrel. They carried compound bows nearly as tall as themselves, the arrows tipped with explosive heads, and long knives hung at their sides. They wore armor made of some dark purple metal, and the cold wind didn't seem to trouble them.

"But it's not only the Scorn," the lead Corsair said. "There's a whole gang of Fallen out here who use the Scorns' attack as cover. While we're occupied with them, this other gang sneaks into the spaceport and steals everything not nailed down."

"They're not Spider's guys, are they?" Max asked.

The Corsairs snorted. "They target his supplies, specifically. The independent gangs refuse Spider's offers and instead try to harass him any way they can. So, yes, Guardians, we could use your help. Eliminate the Scorn, eliminate any Fallen you see who aren't obviously Spider's. They all wear the spikes on their armor, so they're easy to distinguish."

Max started to turn away, intending to begin the hunt, but Sorrel asked, "Has Tony Atkin been around lately?"

"Lanceborn?" said one of the Corsairs. "We've asked for his help, but he's been busy over by the Skybranch settlement. Fallen raiders are questioning their life choices by now, I'm sure."

"How could we find him?" Sorrel asked eagerly. "Spider was cagey about it."

The Corsairs chuckled. "That's Spider for you," said a Corsair. "Rob you blind and say you're in his debt. Finding Lanceborn isn't that easy. Your best bet is to hang around here until he shows up. He'll come help out, like I said, but you never know when."

Sorrel turned to Max with a squeal. "He's actually here! Close by!"

"Skybranch is on an asteroid cluster several hundred miles from the Tangled Shore," Max said. "I suppose in cosmic distances, it's pretty close. Come on, let's help these ladies out."

Sorrel's jubilation couldn't be quenched. The whole time they were combing the rocks and gullies outside the spaceport, she kept dancing in place, or scanning the sky, or making the occasional remark about hoping her father showed up soon. When a freighter flew in and docked at the spaceport, she spent two minutes standing on a crag, scrutinizing it through her rifle scope.

Max wasn't sure if he wanted to meet Tony Atkin. The man sounded like a dangerous loner, especially with what Ferral had said about him. Sorrel seemed to have forgotten the whole thing about him being involved with pirates. The Corsairs seemed to think Atkin was useful, but they spoke of him like he was a mercenary. Granted, that was all most Guardians were to the Awoken, but it didn't reassure Max. What might Atkin do if a random girl ran up to him and proclaimed that he was her father? His reaction likely wouldn't be positive.

Max peered down into a deep gully and froze, holding up a fist. Sorrel saw the gesture and crept up to him, moving stealthily. Twenty feet below them, in the shelter of a split in the asteroid, sprawled a number of Scorn raiders. They were resting, breathing in dark ether from a cluster of canisters, cleaning weapons, or growling to each other. The Guardians were directly above them, and the slightest sound would alert them.

Max quietly backed away from the gully's edge. "Drop a grenade on them?" he whispered.

Sorrel shook her head. "Shoot the ether canisters. They'll blow the whole band sky high."

This appealed to Max. He drew Crimson, stepped back to the edge, and fired.

The canisters ruptured in blue-black smoke for a split second. Then they exploded with a concussive boom that scattered raiders like dust before a tornado. The Guardians dove backward as the shockwave cracked the side of the gully beneath their feet, triggering a rockslide.

The surviving Scorn were buried beneath tons of sliding, grinding stone. But before Max could regain his footing, his helmet HUD lit up with red lights like a City highway at rush hour. Scorn poured out of the rocks all around, firing shock pistols and rifles. Void energy filled the air, several blasts of it catching Max in the torso. His armor repelled most of it, but the heat transfer burned the skin beneath the armor. Snarling, he brought Crimson to bear, firing as he ran sideways along the collapsed gully. Several of the aliens exploded in clouds of dark ether. Max dove behind a boulder. Then he missed Sorrel.

She was nowhere in sight, and had vanished as soon as the ether canisters had gone off. She didn't even appear on his HUD. "Sorrel!" he exclaimed.

"I'm here," she said, sounding breathless. "Don't let them flank you."

She didn't sound hurt, and Max had no time to worry about her. A swarm of ravagers were charging his position. These were headless bodies that had once been Fallen. They carried censers full of burning fuel, and had a nasty way of slamming that censer into an opponent, soaking them in liquid fire. Max shot the censer of the foremost ravager. It burst like a bomb and instantly killed the alien, along with the two closest to it. The others trampled over the burning bodies and kept coming, soundless, navigating without senses.

Max fired Crimson into the chest of the next ravager. As it fell, a burst of energy surged from the gun, down his arm, and into the burnt place beneath his damaged armor. The pain lessened. As he killed more and more aliens, the gun kept siphoning energy into him, easing away the pain.

"There's a reason it's a banned weapon," Zero remarked dryly, when there was a lull in the battle.

Max was reloading as fast as he could move. "Don't get used to it, Zero. You won't get a vacation like this during every firefight."

"What a vacation," she replied. "I'm sitting here with my very own beach umbrella and sunglasses."

"Wouldn't that be a sunglass?" Max said, snapping Crimson's magazine home and checking his HUD.

"Sunglass," Zero said. "And boy, does it look silly."

A grenade sailed into Max's hiding place and stuck to the rock at his feet. He leaped out of hiding and ran for another rock outcropping, firing as he went. Unfortunately, the outcropping was sheltering a gang of Scorn lurkers, who carried tough metal shields cut from the hulls of spaceships. Crimson's bullets bounced off them. The aliens laughed and fired their pistols around the shields, punching into Max's chest and shoulder armor. One bullet grazed his helmet, making him see stars for a second.

"No time for this nonsense," Max said. He summoned a grenade and tossed it under the feet of the lurkers.

The aliens looked down at the grenade for a split second before it engulfed them in a fiery explosion. Their shields, now useless, rolled aside like gigantic coins. Max snatched one up and blocked a hail of incoming arc bolts. There was some huge alien firing at him from higher ground, but he couldn't even look in that direction long enough to identify them. He ducked behind the outcropping, panting and favoring his shoulder. "Zero?"

"Oh, you need me, now?" Zero said, but her healing Light touched his wounds, mending them and sealing breaches in his undersuit. "Guess I'll have to leave my cushy beach umbrella."

"You're a gem," Max said. "What in the world is that thing up the hill?"

"That's a Fallen, not a Scorn," Zero replied. "Looks like a captain trying to snuff himself a couple of Guardians. It's not Ravicks."

"Cheater," Max muttered. "As if the Scorn weren't bad enough." Louder, he said, "Sorrel, what's your position?"

"Down in the gully, about a hundred yards from your position," she replied. "I cloaked in Void Light as soon as the blast went off. I've been backstabbing Scorn down here, but I could use a little help. Are you all right?"

"Pinned down by a Fallen Captain," Max replied. "Looks like we get to clean out the Scorn and the Fallen at the same time."

"Joy," said Sorrel. "Can you handle the captain or do you need me?"

"Let me check." Max held up his shield, peeked around the rock, and looked for the enemy. The captain was advancing on his position, an arc shield shimmering faintly around him. It would take a whole magazine's worth of bullets to pop the shield, so Max did the next best thing. He dashed out of hiding, holding the shield in front of him, leaped as high as he could, and brought the shield down on the alien's head.

The energy shield was designed to repel energy bolts and fast-moving projectiles, not melee blows. Max felt a fractional amount of resistance as he came down - then the metal shield made a satisfying clang against the captain's skull. The captain staggered and spun, trying to bring his rifle to bear on his attacker.

Max dropped almost within the arms of the alien, inside the arc shield. He drew his Hunter's knife and stabbed the alien in the throat, tore outward, then stabbed again, angled downward to penetrate the rib cage. The captain slashed at him with his own knives, but Max had been faster. The blows had gone weak. They grappled for a few seconds, the alien spurting blood and ether. Then the captain crashed to the ground, the glowing eyes going dark.

Nearby, a human voice chuckled. "Not bad, kid."

Max whirled, Crimson in one hand, bloody knife in the other. A short distance away stood a Titan in battered armor, cradling a machine gun in both arms. He wore no helmet, and his arms were bare, as if the freezing wind couldn't touch him. Glowing tattoos covered both his arms and the side of his face, rippling orange against his blue skin. His hair had been shaved into a mohawk.

"Thanks for the help," Max said, wiping off his knife on the alien's cloak.

"You didn't need it," said the Titan. "You fight like that every day?"

"It's been a while," Max replied. He had a funny feeling he knew who this stranger was. "Are you the one they call Lanceborn?"

"Funny name, that," said the Titan. "I mostly use hammers now. But nicknames are hard to shake. What's your name?"

"Max Ross," said Max. "Aren't you worried about all the Scorn and Fallen around here?"

Tony Atkin turned and gestured. Behind him was a trail of bodies, Scorn and Fallen together, all of them blown full of holes from the machine gun. "Worried? No. Mildly irritated? Yes."

Suddenly a single void bolt slashed at Tony from out of nowhere. Before Max even had time to register what he was seeing, a red, diamond-shaped shield appeared in midair and deflected the void bolt. Tony spun around and fired his machine gun from the hip with a deafening rattle. Two last Fallen Vandals collapsed on the opposite hillside, where they had been sheltering.

Tony lifted his machine gun, opened the chamber and fed in a fresh ammo belt. "Good catch, Buck."

His Ghost appeared at his shoulder. "Thank you."

If not for the glowing blue eye, Max never would have recognized the object as a Ghost. What he saw was the mechanism for an energy shield carried by Cabal Phalanxes. The Ghost wore the mechanism instead of a shell. Noticing Max's stare, Buck said, "I'm a shieldbearer. Watch." He flicked the limiters on the shield wide open, expanding the shield to nearly as tall as his Guardian. Then he closed back up to Ghost-size again.

"Aren't you afraid he'll take a bullet in the eye?" Max said, staring.

Tony slung the machine gun across his back on a strap. "Hell no. Take a look." He lifted his Ghost out of the air and beckoned Max closer.

Close up, Max saw that the Ghost's core was protected by a thick layer of bulletproof glass, scuffed in many places by projectiles.

Tony ran his fingers over it. "Aluminum glass. Toughest glass in existence. I cut it out of a ship hulk. Took days to figure out how. But I can't have my Ghost getting killed on my behalf, can I?"

"I want to know how you got him into the shield mechanism in the first place," said Max.

Tony grinned. "It's quite a story. We'll have to talk more later. Here comes your partner."

Max turned to see Sorrel picking her way across the rocks, scout rifle under one arm. When she saw who Max was talking to, she froze and stood motionless.

"Come on," Max said, beckoning. "It's all right."

In his head, Zero said privately, "She asks you to please not tell him her last name."

"After all that dancing around she did, now she turns shy," Max thought. Aloud, he said, "This is my teammate, Sorrel."

As Sorrel hesitantly approached, Tony smiled. "I had a little girl by that name, once." He lifted a hand before his face and bowed like a Reefborn. "Good day, Guardian Sorrel. I was just talking to your friend Max, here. Seems we were all fighting the same Scorn and Fallen today."

Sorrel nodded and didn't say anything.

Max said, "Did we handle all of the aliens, or are there more?"

"I reckon this was all," Tony said, surveying the corpses. "Until the Fanatic raises more, I suppose."

Sorrel blurted, "Do you know anything about the Butcher?"

Tony's smile vanished. "Ravicks? Sure, I've been hunting his hide since he escaped prison. You know where he is?"

"He's coming for you," Sorrel said. "We met him almost two days ago, now."

"And he told you all his plans, I suppose?" Tony said, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually," Max said, "my Ghost cracked a database Ravicks left behind. He had downloaded everything he could find about you."

Tony and Buck looked at each other, communicating silently. Then Tony faced the Guardians again. "Thanks for the heads up. We'll be on the alert. Now, by any chance, you wouldn't be here on behalf of Spider, would you?"

Max grinned behind his helmet. "We only just saved his supplies and his skiffs. Why would we be working for him?"

Tony grinned, too. "Better gather helmets and souvenirs from the Scorn, then. Spider never pays unless you bring him proof of your dirty work. Look, I need to get going. If you want to chat, ping my Ghost. He can arrange a meeting, if need be. I owe you for the tip about the Butcher."

"Will do," said Max. "Thanks for your help taking out the rest of these guys."

"No problem." Tony bowed again and walked off, his machine gun bouncing against his back.

Max began examining the nearest Scorn corpses, figuring out how their helmets came off. Sorrel stood where she was and watched until her father was out of sight. Then she whispered, "That was him. That was Dad. And he's the scariest-looking Titan I've ever seen. He's not even wearing full armor! And those tattoos!"

"Be happy," Max said. "He's badass and seems like a decent guy. My Dad tried to beat me to death when he found out I was a Guardian. Called me a zombie." He wrenched off a helmet and had Zero transmat it into storage. "Why didn't you introduce yourself? He knew your name."

"I chickened out," Sorrel said faintly. She stooped and began retrieving helmets. "He was so … real. And scary-looking. I fantasized about punching him in the nose for years. Now I see him, I think he'd punch back. Probably knock me straight into orbit."

"Probably," Max said. "Never a good idea to punch a Titan. At least we know how to contact him, now. We don't need Spider anymore."

"So, why are we collecting helmets, again?" Sorrel asked, nudging a corpse with the toe of her boot. "These things are nasty. I'm afraid I'll get some kind of disease if I touch one."

"Your Ghost can heal you if that happens," Max said. "And frankly, I'm curious. Now that we've met Tony, I want to know what Spider was going to tell us about him. Call it a small sting operation."

"Thinking like a cop," Sorrel said. She pulled off a helmet and handed it to Max. "So … what did Dad say? Did he help you fight?"

Max told her about the encounter as they worked. Sorrel listened, subdued. She didn't say much as they hiked back to the spaceport and boarded Max's ship.

As they took off, Max said, "Tell you what. I'll go clear things up with Spider, and you stay on the ship and rest."

Sorrel pulled off her helmet and gave him a relieved look. "Are you sure?"

"I can handle him," Max said with a reassuring smile. "And Erica. What can she do, anyway, besides scream at me?"

Sorrel smiled a little. "Pull out a gun and shoot you? I don't know. Just be careful. I do feel like I just … need some space to process."

"I get that," Max said. "It's no problem."

He flew them back to Thieves Landing, where Spider's lair hid behind an old town, hastily refurbished and inhabited by his loyalists. Max landed and set out to see Spider, leaving Sorrel behind.


	9. Down for piracy

Sorrel went to her bunk and curled up on her side, facing the wall. She had seen her father face to face - the elusive man who had abandoned her as a toddler. Her mother still cared for him, which Sorrel could never understand. And now she had met him. And he was a Titan in battered armor, face and arms exposed to the freezing wind. Glowing tattoos. What kind of tattoos glowed like that? Was it an Awoken thing or a Sunbreaker thing?

He was either a hero or a villain. Lord Dasa was afraid that it was both. Tony didn't act like a rogue, but then, how did rogues act? His friendly facade could have been a mask for a scheming mind. What was his connection to pirates? Was it only rumor or was it true?

Sorrel tried to triangulate herself into this. Like it or not, Tony Atkin's blood flowed in her veins. She had some of him in the make-up of her psyche. So, how did she relate to him? As a parent? As a colleague? A fellow Guardian?

Traveler's Light, she didn't want him to be a pirate. She needed him to be a hero, even if he was a loner. The tragic father defending other families appealed to her - not the more realistic view of a man scratching out a living any way he could.

Blast it all. She needed to talk to him. Find out what he was like, if he was really a thief and murderer, and if she could trust him. There was no need to identify herself just yet. Let him think she was just a young Guardian who was excited about having a chance to meet a legend.

As she lay there, her mind spinning every which way, a stray thought entered her mind that was almost as startling. She had a grandmother out here, too: Judith Drell, a Techeun. Would it be possible to find her, too? Somehow, Sorrel had a feeling it would be much more difficult to see a Techeun. They didn't fraternize with outsiders, especially not a lowly Earthborn Guardian.

As Sorrel lay there, she heard the ship's outer door open and Max's familiar footsteps climb the ramp into the ship's quarters. He stood in silence a moment, perhaps listening to see if Sorrel was awake. Then he went into the galley. The bench creaked as he sat down. Then silence.

Sorrel waited for further sounds, maybe of him grabbing a snack. But the silence stretched on and on until she began to worry. What had happened with Spider? Why was Max just sitting there? He was usually too busy to sit still very long.

She slid out of her bunk, walked a few steps to the galley, and looked in. Max sat at the minuscule table, elbows resting on it, head in his hands. It almost looked as if he was crying. Zero hovered close by, her blue eye anxious.

"Max?" Sorrel said softly.

He looked up at once. There was no trace of tears in his eyes, but he was pale as death. It gave him shadows under his eyes that Sorrel had never seen before. His blond hair was still disarranged from his helmet, and he hadn't bothered to try to rake it straight with his fingers.

She slid into the seat opposite him and took one of his hands. "What happened? What's wrong?"

Max stared at her hand without seeing it for a long moment. "Erica knew who I was. She told Spider all about me."

Sorrel drew a breath through her teeth. "Well. So what? Why should Spider care?"

"She waited until after I'd turned in those helmets," Max went on, his voice flat and expressionless. "Spider gave me a datachip with stuff about your dad on it. And … and he said …"

When Max trailed off, Sorrel said, "You can tell me. It's all right."

Max swallowed and gazed at the tabletop rather than her face. "He said that since I killed on his orders, he could file a report with the City Police saying that I've taken mercenary work outside my jurisdiction. It's against the law to do that. And he said … if I want to get on his good side, I need to capture Tony Atkin."

"What!" Sorrel leaped to her feet, hot wrath filling her. "That is absolutely insane! Killing Scorn and Fallen isn't a crime! And why would you capture Dad? What's Spider want with him?"

Max stared at the tabletop. "The datachip has records of Tony Atkin's piracy - the ships he ran with, the other ships and settlements they raided, how many people he attacked. I looked at it, Sorrel. Names, dates, locations. We can back check each of them, but … Spider wants Tony brought in so he can blackmail him into working for him. It's pretty obvious. He was drooling a little as he told me to bring him in."

Sorrel's rage grew into fury. Some of it was anger that her father had let her down after all. But most of it was directed at Spider and Erica for making Max look so sick and beaten. In all the time she'd known him, Max had never looked that way. Even his Light aura had dimmed. He had always been her happy-go-lucky friend, never letting his worries show very much. But this blow had stripped away his mask, letting her see the crushed, frightened man beneath. It did something to her - it awakened a ferocious protective instinct she never knew she had.

She sat down and put both her hands on top of his. "Listen," she said in a low voice. "We're going to check every damn place on that chip. Interview eyewitnesses. We're going to grill Dad for the truth. And if there's a clause about City law enforcement doing Guardian work in the Reef, I'm going to find it."

"There is," Max said dully. "I had Zero look it up. No City law enforcement may take mercenary work outside of sanctioned human political bodies, like the Vanguard or the Iron Lords. I forgot all about that. The law was made before we knew about people like Spider, but … still. The penalty is immediate termination of position. If the officer is a Guardian, they are tried before the Consensus to determine if they are to be exiled."

Terminated and exiled. The words themselves were like blows to the head. Sorrel felt winded, as if she were in a boxing match with an opponent she couldn't track.

Sorrel squeezed Max's hands. They felt so cold and lifeless. After a moment, he squeezed back with a fraction of his old energy.

"If you get exiled for this," she said softly, "then I'm going with you."

Max looked at her, his eyes very blue and startled. "You would?"

"I would," Sorrel said. "And the first thing we'd do is come back here and cut Spider's fat throat."

Max smiled a little, as if he didn't believe this was possible, but he appreciated her spirit. After a moment, he said, "I'll need your help to check up on Tony's records. You're Awoken, and people will talk to you easier than they will me. We'll need a good, long talk with Tony, too. I don't know how Spider expects me to capture him. A Hunter doesn't just capture a Titan. Tony could pound me to a paste."

"I'll help you with all this," Sorrel said. "Dad has enough on his plate with Ravicks after him. He doesn't need Spider doing it, too. I guess … I'll have to tell him who I am. So he knows why I won't do Spider's bidding."

Max's blue eyes met hers again, once more desolate. "Spider's counting you in this, too. Erica was telling him about you as I left."

"Erica doesn't know me as well as she does you," Sorrel said through her teeth. "She knows how to break you, but she never figured out how to break me. It's why she hates me so much. Reporting me to the City or the Vanguard won't do squat. I've done exactly the same things every other Guardian has done out here."

Max took one of her hands in both of his. He caressed her hand for a moment. "Don't wreck your future over this," he said softly. "Whatever happens to me … you deserve better than exile. You just got back from two years in the wild. I won't make you go back to that."

"I'm good at wilderness survival," Sorrel said. "And you're not. You'll need me."

Max sat there for a moment, unmoving, as if he'd turned to ice. Abruptly he drew a breath and smiled. "I won't get exiled because we're going to invalidate Spider's claims. Say I've been working undercover. I'd better send a report to the chief in my precinct, let him know what's going on, before Spider tries to rat me out."

"But you've done the mercenary work," Sorrel said. "Doesn't that mean that you'd be informing on yourself?"

Max gazed at her a moment, then wilted. "It would."

"Let's stick to our plan," Sorrel said. "Maybe Dad will know a way out of this."

* * *

Tony Atkin spent the long, cold nights of the Reef on his battered old ship, the Sunhawk. Once, she had been a beautiful new cruiser with two jump drives, four matching Vega-type engines, and enough cabin space for a crew of three. But over time, he had been forced to sell one of the jump drives and two of the engines. He hadn't had a crew in years. The big ship was now his home, grimy inside and out, a crash pad for a washed-up Titan and his Ghost.

Tonight, the ship was docked next to an uninhabited asteroid with a huge scoop cut out of one side. Tony had long ago discovered that the scoop was the perfect size to conceal the Sunhawk, and now he used it as a makeshift hanger. The stone protected him from the scans of the Fallen and the Scorn, and more than one Awoken pirate ship had passed nearby, unaware of the Sunhawk crouched, silent, in the shadow of the asteroid.

Tony had taken off his armor and sat in a t-shirt and thermal pants. He and Buck had set up an old chess set on a galley table, and were studying it in silence. The pieces were magnetized to the board, making it appropriate for low or zero-gravity play, and each piece was carved out of marble. His wife, Havila, had gifted it to him at their wedding. Even though he hadn't worn his wedding ring in twenty-five years, he had wedged it around the white queen. He, himself, always played black. Pulling out the chess set always brought back memories of Havila, and little Sorrel, and the home he had left behind. It was painful, but he deserved the pain, after wrecking his own life so thoroughly.

Buck carefully transmatted a pawn one space forward. Tony moved a bishop. Buck moved a knight.

"Her name was Sorrel," said Buck.

Tony moved a pawn two spaces. "I know."

"Was she Awoken?"

"She had her helmet on. I don't know."

"She'd be grown up, now."

"If she's a Guardian, that means she died." Tony rubbed a rough hand over his face and massaged the Sunbreaker logo tattooed into the left side of his face. The lines were always warmer than the rest of his skin. "Died in the Red War, probably. Like Havila. Probably has no recollection of me." He heaved a deep sigh and stared at the chessboard without seeing it. Instead, he saw a little girl with her hair in pigtails, laughing and running to him, shouting, "Daddy!"

"Why am I still alive, Buck?"

His Ghost gazed at him from behind the bulletproof glass of his shield rig. "We've lost a lot, Tony. But you're still a Guardian. You can still do good in this universe."

"You always say that." Tony moved a pawn, and Buck captured it. "Every time I rescue a village or a caravan … every time I rid the Reef of one more Fallen … I see their faces. None of this has been worth it."

Buck glanced at the wall, where eight Sunbreaker accolades were clamped in a row. All of them pointless, now that the Sunbreakers were gone. Nothing remained but memories.

Buck looked up and opened his shield shell a little. "Hmm. Transmission from another Ghost. She's requesting a meeting between us and her Guardian."

"Who is it?" Tony said wearily. "Another little Titan wanting the autograph of the legendary Tyrone Lanceborn?"

Buck blinked several times. "It's … that Sorrel girl."

Tony sat very still for a long moment without answering. His heart seized inside him, and for a second he thought he was falling through space. Then his heart was pounding as hard as if he'd just run across the Tangled Shore at top speed. When he spoke, however, he held his voice rock-steady. "What's she want?"

"She says that she has information from Spider that involves you, and she wants to talk."

Tony knew what information Spider had. It had worried him for years. Now he closed his eyes for a moment and ran a hand over his mohawk. "It's time to pay the piper, Buck. This is the end."

"I know," the Ghost said quietly. "Shall I give her our coordinates?"

"Tell her we'll meet her at the spaceport in an hour. There's no room on this asteroid for another ship to dock." Tony began putting away the chess pieces in their box. "I guess it remains to be seen if I'll stand trial before the Awoken or the Guardians. Lord Dasa would put me away if he had hard evidence."

"And if the Queen demands to see you?"

Tony shook his head. "Then I'll be like that poor bastard who shot her brother, sentenced to forced labor for the rest of my lives."

He gave the chess box to Buck to store in his memory, then went to the Sunhawk's cockpit. Maneuvering out of the asteroid was a matter of habit, and the flight to the spaceport took ten minutes. Neither Tony nor Buck spoke until they had been guided to a quiet spot on a back runway, where other ships were docked. Then they waited.

Within the hour, another jumpship arrived and docked nearby. Tony and Buck watched from the cockpit as the two hunters they had met earlier disembarked and approached his ship. Tony worked the controls to lower the cargo gangplank. After a moment, the two hunters disappeared from his range of vision, under the Sunhawk's belly, as they climbed the gangplank.

Tony rose from his seat like a man going to the gallows. He descended into the hold and found the two Hunters standing among the few cargo crates he lugged around. They stood close together, as if nervous.

"Hey," he greeted them. "Come to the upper deck." He led the way back up the stairs.

In his head, Buck observed, "If this is your daughter, then she has a human boyfriend. Or lover. Or whatever he is."

" _If_ she's my daughter," Tony said. "Let's establish that, first." He didn't know if he wanted this girl to be his daughter. That meant admitting how badly he'd ruined both his life and hers. With luck, she had no memory of the divorce and this was a coincidental meeting. Spider calling in his debts was bad enough.

He led them to the galley, which was the only place with enough seats for guests. The cockpit had seats, of course, but it wasn't the best place for a conversation. He slid into his usual seat and gestured at the others. "Sit wherever."

The two hunters wore their helmets, as befitting cautious Guardians. Funny, the young Guardians were always so careful. Tony hadn't been that cautious in years - not with a Ghost who could heal him. Pain was a temporary annoyance. He spread his hands. "What's with the helmets? Expecting a firefight?"

The human - Max Ross - pulled off his helmet first. Blond hair, blue eyes, bit of a beard, the sort of youthful, determined face so common among young Guardians. He'd toughen up after a few decades.

Then the girl removed her helmet. Long, curly dark hair. Fair blue skin, glowing green eyes that seemed to look straight into his soul, as they had from the minute she had been born … and scars. So many scars. The Lightmark she'd once had was obscured, even though it shimmered through here and there. No two Awoken had the same Lightmark, and Sorrel's had been that crescent moon. But now, the left side of her face was gone.

Tony recoiled, covering his mouth with one hand. She was the spitting image of Havila - especially those eyes. But the scars! What had happened to her? Sudden rage flared to life inside him. It was like finding his beloved wife horribly disfigured, but this was somehow worse. This was the little girl he'd left behind, looking up at him with so much innocent love.

"You … you said your name was Sorrel," Tony said. "Surname?"

The girl covered the scarred side of her face with one hand and glanced at Max. "Atkin."

There wasn't a sound for several long seconds. Tony stared at her, heart beating a sickening rhythm inside him. She was his daughter, he had no doubt. She looked too much like her mother. But the scars … something horrible had happened to her. He couldn't get past them. His daughter had grown up into a beautiful young woman … and that had been destroyed.

Sorrel met his gaze for a moment, then looked away. "I … well, I think we might be related. I've been trying to … trying to find my father for some time now. We've narrowed the search down to you, and I wanted to …"

"Sorrel," said Tony.

She looked up, startled. Those green eyes smote him in the heart.

"I'm sorry," he said. "For leaving."

Her eyes filled with tears. Sorrel bit her lower lip and looked down, trying to hide her sudden rush of emotion. She didn't speak, but her reaction was answer enough. What must she think of him, still dressed in a scruffy t-shirt and pants that hadn't been washed in months? Not the ideal image of a loving father. He looked down at the tattoos on his arms and felt the urge to cover them, the way Sorrel covered her scars.

Max, watching and ignored, said, "So you really are her father?"

"I'm afraid so," Tony said, unable to take his eyes off his daughter. "She looks so much like her mother." To Sorrel, he said, "I thought you were dead. I came back with the evacuation shuttles after the Red War. You and Havila …"

"We survived," Sorrel said, lifting her face bravely, despite the tears. "We came back two months late, because we got involved out in the EDZ."

Tony lifted a hand toward the scarred side of her face, but didn't touch her. "Is that why … why this …?"

"Sparrow accident," Sorrel said. "No helmet."

Max shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and Tony caught it. He turned on him. "It was your fault, wasn't it?"

Max nodded slightly.

Tony's anger flared up inside him. It didn't matter that he'd only been reunited with his daughter a few minutes. All his guilt rolled up into a huge ball and projected onto the unfortunate Hunter sitting across the table. He should have known a Hunter would do something so abysmally stupid as wreck a sparrow with his daughter on it. A burning hammer appeared in his hand, catching his whole arm on fire. He fully intended to knock the kid's stupid head off, but Sorrel jumped to her feet.

"No!" she cried, foolishly grabbing his burning hand. "Don't hurt him!" Then she cried out and snatched her hand away, the skin already blistering.

Tony quenched his flames and the hammer disappeared. He'd hurt Sorrel again - after she'd already been hurt so much. He'd have to settle accounts with Max Ross later.

Sorrel's Ghost appeared, sweeping her hand with healing Light. The blisters and burn vanished, but it didn't remove Tony's guilt. He slumped in his seat, watching.

Sorrel faced him, her voice still shaky. "Don't hurt Max, Dad. It was an accident. We were trying to run down an Aphelion thrall, and it flipped the sparrow. It was the thrall's fault, not Max's."

Tony slowly leaned his elbows on the table, a light dawning in his mind. "An Aphelion thrall … you two were involved in that?"

"You know about that?" Max said.

"The whole Reef knows about it," Tony replied. "Had it escaped, the Aphelion would have come straight here." He looked at Sorrel's face with new respect. She was battle-scarred from fighting one of the most horrible abominations ever to sully the stars. Not quite the accident he had been envisioning - a stupid Hunter out for a joyride.

Max looked prepared to duck, but he said carefully, "I'm a City detective, and I was on a team with Sorrel, tracking the creatures. It's how we became friends."

"Friends," said Tony, scrutinizing him. "You. And her."

" _Just_ friends," Max said.

Tony pointed at him. "If you hurt her, I will track you down, Hunter. You'll feel my hammer for seven deaths. Remember that."

Max went pale. "Yes sir."

"Don't threaten him," Sorrel said, one hand clenching into a fist on the tabletop. "Spider's already done that. And Spider's after you, too."

Tony leaned back in his chair with a deep sigh. "What's Spider saying I've done?"

Sorrel looked at Max. The young Hunter pulled out a datachip and slid it across the table. "Have your Ghost scan that. He can fill you in. Basically, Spider's got you down for piracy."

Exactly what Tony had thought. He watched as Buck scanned the chip. Inside his head, Buck said, "It's what we suspected Spider had. All of it spun badly."

"Can we fight it?" Tony thought.

Buck was silent for a moment. "We can try."

This wasn't reassuring. Tony gave Max a stiff grin. "So, what's Spider got on you?"

"Mercenary work outside my jurisdiction," Max replied, his mouth tightening into a grim line. "It's against City law. I could lose my job and face exile."

Tony nodded, if not exactly in sympathy, then in understanding. "Better than outright executing you and your Ghost, the way the Iron Lords did. But yes. Spider's favorite thing is blackmail. He loves keeping people in his debt. It's one reason they call him Spider."

Sorrel gazed at him sorrowfully. "So … is it true? That you were a pirate?"

The truth would take hours to explain, and Tony wasn't convinced there was time. "I ran with pirates for a while, yes. However, I believe that I am as innocent as your friend Max, here. If we could gather the testimonies of a few people, we'd have enough evidence to combat Spider's information. As for you, Max … I'm not sure what can be done, besides gathering character witnesses."

"He only worked for Spider because of me," Sorrel burst out. "He was helping me track you down, and that was the only way Spider would work with us. We were directed to Spider by Lord Dasa, even."

"Hmm," Tony said, shifting his attention to Max. The kid looked like a whipped dog hoping to find favor at last. After a moment, Tony said, "I think a good lawyer could convince the jury that because you were following orders from Dasa, you were technically operating within the constraints of the law. Spider doesn't have anything else on you, does he?"

"I don't know," Max said quietly, as if he'd lost the strength to raise his voice. "My ex-girlfriend is feeding him information about me. I'm afraid of what they might dig up."

"Shady past?" Tony asked.

Max shifted in his chair, as if the truth was a splinter he was trying to avoid. "Well, sir, I'm a detective … and I've been in some pretty awful situations."

"Uh-huh," Tony replied. Maybe the kid was more interesting than he'd first thought. He'd have to interrogate him later. Really, he wanted to talk to both of them - especially Sorrel. Find out how she'd grown up, what happened after he'd left, if Havila had remarried, everything. But at the moment, he felt like he'd had the top of his head pried open and an entire world of new information poured in. He needed time to think, to work through this gamut of new facts and feelings. Havila and Sorrel were alive. That single, staggering fact had to be faced. It turned his entire world on its head, including his devotion to the Firebreak Protocol.

"We'll have to get together again in the next few days," Tony said, rising to his feet. "For now, we all have a lot of things to think about."

Sorrel and Max stood, too. Max edged toward the door, but Sorrel faced Tony, her green eyes fixed on his face. "We should talk," she said very quietly. "I have a lot of questions."

"So do I," said Tony, daring to rest a hand on her shoulder. "We'll talk. Soon."

He escorted them out of the Sunhawk and watched until they boarded their own ship. He stood at the viewport for a long time after they'd gone, gazing at the empty strip of tarmac.

He sensed Buck's unspoken questions before the Ghost drifted up to his shoulder. Buck was about to explode with curiosity, all about Sorrel, and Max, and Spider's threats.

"One question," Tony said.

Buck made a frustrated beeping sound. After a moment, he said, "That was Sorrel. Our Sorrel. I was going to ask if you were sure, but … I talked to her Ghost, and …"

Tony's head whipped around. "What did it say?"

Buck didn't flinch, even though Tony's nose was half an inch from his glass-paneled eye. "She found Sorrel about a year after we left. Sorrel didn't die. And she grew up hating you, because you left, and her mother had to work so hard."

Tony turned away and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. He should have expected something like this, but it still felt like he'd taken an ogre's fist to the gut. A Guardian since she was a child! Intact memories! How did he cope with this?

After a moment, he said, "Does she still hate me?"

"Her Ghost didn't know," Buck replied. "Sorrel's very confused right now. She didn't know she was a Guardian until about two years ago. It's one reason she was desperate to find you and talk, because she's afraid of what she's turning into. She was injured by the Aphelion. On the inside."

Tony drew a breath through clenched teeth. Why had he left his wife and daughter? He could have shielded them from so much suffering. Sorrel could have grown up learning all about Guardians, not fearing and hating them for tearing her family apart. And she'd been hurt by the Aphelion. What did that mean? How was she still alive? No one survived an encounter with the Aphelion.

He stood there for so long that Buck said, "We should go back to the asteroid … in case Ravicks …"

Tony stirred from his thoughts. "You're right. Come on, let's go."

But as he left the spaceport, he had to wonder if Ravicks would try to claim Sorrel's life, too, if he found out who she was.


	10. Truths

It was late by the time Max and Sorrel returned to Thieves Landing. It was always a tricky decision, deciding whether to spend the night planetside or in orbit. But both of them were tired of trying to eat and sleep in zero-G, and decided to risk docking in the relative safety of Spider's hometown.

They sat at the table together and munched their way through the various food packs Max had brought. Then he and Sorrel broke out the cheese and matzah. The rich, salty cheese was comforting after the stresses of the day. Sorrel considered opening the wine, but decided against it. She wanted to gift it to Tony as a peace offering.

Max still had that peaky, haggard look, his eyes a little sunken. It alarmed Sorrel. Even in the midst of all-night patrols to hunt the Aphelion, he'd never looked that bad. He ate without saying much, staring at the wall most of the time.

At last Sorrel said, "Are you all right?"

His smile was quick and obscured his weariness a little. "Just tired. It's been a long day."

Sorrel nodded. "What do you think of Dad?"

Max ate another bite of cheese and matzah before answering. "I don't trust him."

"Why not?"

"He admitted to running with pirates, then said he's innocent. I don't see how both of those things could be true."

This tore Sorrel in two directions. Her first reaction was anger that Max didn't think her father was wonderful. She was halfway toward worshiping Tony, herself, and the heroic ideal he embodied. On the other hand, her gut instinct agreed with Max, that Tony Atkin was not to be trusted. He'd admitted that Spider's accusations of piracy were true, meaning he was a traitor to both Guardians and Sunbreakers. He had fought against innocent people and murdered them, or helped others do it. Then he had looted their supplies for profit. That was how pirates worked. Tony even looked like a pirate, with his mohawk and copious tattoos. He'd had the Sunbreaker logo worked into designs all down his left arm, and a zigzag lightning motif down his right. Every line of the ink work glowed a faint orange, like fire beneath his skin.

Sorrel glared at Max for a moment. Then she sighed and bowed her head. "I needed him to be a hero, Max. He's my Dad, and … I'm a Guardian, just like him. If my own father has failed in being a protector, and a servant of the Light and everything … what hope do I have?"

Max straightened a little. A little fire flickered in his eyes. "You listen up, Sorrel. You are not Tony Atkin. You don't have to make his choices. I've seen a lot of kids from broken homes. Sometimes they rise above it and become more. And sometimes they let it drag them down and make all the mistakes their parents did. You are not him, all right?"

"All right, all right," Sorrel said, flinching back a little. Max had never used that tone of voice with her before. His expression was so intense - she'd touched a nerve. "You don't have to bite my head off."

Max exhaled and settled back in his seat. "Sorry. I didn't mean to. But I've seen this play out so many times. Doesn't matter if the family is rich or poor - the same mistakes get repeated over and over. Sorrel, don't define yourself by your dad. We don't even know him that well, yet." He smiled and patted her arm. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I just … feel really strongly about this."

Sorrel took his hand and studied him. "I'm seeing a lot of sides to you that I've never seen before."

"The true colors bleed through when pressed," Max said, looking vaguely ashamed. "I guess … I'm letting myself be real with you. The good, the bad, and the ugly."

"It's not ugly," Sorrel said softly. "You're more experienced than I am. It just comes through kind of harsh."

"I'll try to dial it back," Max said. "I'm just … worried. About what might happen when we start digging."

Sorrel rubbed his hand. "About how bad the truth might be?"

"And what it'll do to you," Max said, equally softly. The fire had faded from his eyes, leaving them a smokey blue. "Tony was going to kill me, Sorrel. Right there in his own galley. If he'd do that when crossed … what will he do when _you_ ask one too many questions?"

Sorrel had no answer for that. Her hand still felt an echo of the scorching heat that had been billowing off her father's hammer arm. It had been like touching a red-hot furnace. She looked down and hunched her shoulders.

Max shifted out of his seat, sliding around the table to sit beside Sorrel. He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her against his side. This was unexpected and oddly comforting. Sorrel rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. He was so warm - she hadn't realized how cold the ship was becoming as the temperature outside dropped.

"Why do the men in my life all use Solar Light?" she murmured.

Max chuckled, rocking her a little. "I guess we do, don't we? Maybe it's to guide you home from the void."

Sorrel smiled and let herself relax. It was odd how seeing more of Max's true self made her like him that much more. He was so honest and passionate beneath his cheerful mask. It was reassuring to know that she wasn't the only one to carry around a maelstrom of thoughts and feelings behind a calm outward appearance.

They sat there for a while in silence. Then Max whispered, "May I kiss your cheek?"

Sorrel sat up and looked at him, startled.

Max blushed. "I … was just asking."

Again, Sorrel studied his face, especially his lips. Funny, she didn't mind the thought of Max being so close to her - especially if it was only a kiss on the cheek. She turned the good side of her face toward him.

"No," he whispered. "The other side."

Sorrel hesitantly turned the other way, displaying her scars. Max stooped forward and gently kissed the rough skin. To Sorrel's disappointment, she barely felt it - his lips were so soft and her skin still lacked so many nerve endings. She turned her face the other way. "I can't feel it. Try this side?"

"All right," Max said, and kissed her again. And that time, she felt it as a warm tickle against her skin.

They gazed at each other for a moment. Then Sorrel said, "Do you mind if I kiss you?"

Max beamed. "Go ahead."

Sorrel smoothed back his hair and kissed his temple, which she hadn't realized she'd wanted to do until that second. He smelled like he needed a shower, but even that didn't bother her unduly. She simply liked him so much-

Suddenly she recoiled and shrank away. "What are we doing?"

"What?" said Max, startled.

Sorrel stared at him. "We're friends, right? Why are we kissing? We shouldn't be!"

Max turned away and gazed at the table. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I keep … forgetting that we're just friends."

"What are we, then?" Sorrel said.

Max didn't answer for a long moment. He drew a deep breath, as if steadying himself. Then he said, "I love you."

She had known that he did, but somehow she'd managed to not think about it. He was so good at simply acting normal and not pawing at her, she'd gone a long while without worrying about it. But now, here he was, kissing her-

And she'd allowed it. And she'd kissed him back. And deep down, she wanted to do it again.

Sorrel pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "Oohh, what is happening? I don't understand this."

Max didn't say anything, only watched her with a shamed expression.

Sorrel dropped her hands and met his gaze. "What do you expect me to do, Max? You tell me you love me, and - and what do I do? I'm scared, here."

Max looked down for a moment, as if searching for the right words. "Well … I don't know. I mean, I've liked you so much for years. I told you that you were the only girl I'd ever met who was cool."

Sorrel couldn't help but smile at this.

Max did, too. "I'd like to think that you … you might like me that way. Maybe even one day, it might be love. But … it's all right if you don't. I shouldn't have asked to kiss you. I just thought … after today … you needed some affection."

Sorrel didn't know what to say. A million conflicting thoughts swirled through her mind. How did she respond to this? And why did her treacherous heart keep whispering that she ought to kiss him again? At least he was being a gentleman about it, not trying to push her any further.

Sorrel blurted, "I need to think about this. Mind if I go to my bunk?"

"Sure, fine, go ahead," Max said with a little too much enthusiasm. "I'll see you in the morning."

Sorrel escaped the galley and fled to her bunk. But as she slid the partition shut, she sneaked a look back at Max.

He was sitting where she had left him, head in his hands. Zero floated nearby, anxiously whispering to him.

Sorrel closed the partition and stretched out on her bunk. Somehow, without meaning to, she'd wounded him. Memories of his vulnerable moments flashed through her mind - finding out that Spider was blackmailing him - his concern about Sorrel's father hurting her - his reassuring hugs - the sensation of his first kiss on the scarred side of her face.

She groaned, curled up, and faced the wall. "Vox," she thought, "I'm hurting him. But I don't know what I'm doing to hurt him. What does he expect? How do people know they're in love?"

Her Ghost appeared beside her in the darkness, her blue eye glowing. "I don't know, Sorrel. Why did you kiss him back?"

Sorrel had no idea. She lay there for a long time, trying to reason out their whole relationship. But it was like trying to build a puzzle with pieces from two different sets. Nothing fit. Nothing explained the awful pain she felt at having hurt Max. And nothing explained why she wanted to kiss him again.

Out in the galley, she heard him slowly leave his seat and move to the cockpit. The seat creaked as he climbed into it. Faintly, she heard him say, "I'm so sorry, Sorrel."

That's when she began to cry.

* * *

Ravicks the Butcher crouched on a narrow lip of metal high up in the wreck of an old spaceship. Through a gaping hole in the wall, he looked down on the little spaceport northwest of Thieves Landing. Of course, the direction was only down as long as he kept his eyes on it. If he looked up, into the sky, he saw that he was hanging upside down over a sea of floating, revolving asteroids and the ships lashed to them. Beyond them, the sun shone through a haze of gas and dust. He hung over the abyss, perched on this corner of the Tangled Shore, held down only by the tenuous gravity of the Shore's mass.

None of this worried Ravicks unduly. He was hunting Tony Atkin - or Tyrone Lanceborn. The heart of such a champion would fill Ravicks with immense power and Light. It would be enough to make him a contender for the position of Kell over the House of Dusk.

Lanceborn had been seen frequenting this spaceport recently. Ravicks would watch and wait until his ship appeared.

He lifted a metal tube to his mouth and drew a deep breath of its contents. The tube was attached to a canister strapped to his back, one with Fikrul's personal mark painted on it. The dark ether swirled into Ravicks's lungs and into his bloodstream. At first, it had tasted bitter and foul. But after a day or two, the bitterness had vanished. Now it tasted of belonging, of power, of a new shape just beyond his ken. While the ether was fresh in his lungs, he almost saw the new form building inside himself, a master Eliksni, far stronger than his brethren.

All he needed was Lanceborn's heart. Maybe he'd wait for his Ghost to resurrect him, and then consume his heart again. Six times … one for each powerful limb of the Eliksni body. The final death, Ravicks would kill the Ghost and keep its shell as a trophy.

Then he would challenge the Kell of House Dusk to single combat. And Ravicks would become the new Kell of all the splintered Houses. Together, they would crush the humans and take the Great Machine, as was the birthright of his people.

But Ravicks would be the first to lay a hand upon the Machine's shell and command its obedience.

Lanceborn's ship appeared and flew in to land at the spaceport. Ravicks pulled out a wire rifle and studied the ship through the scope. Yes, there was the Sunbreaker logo on the side. All he needed was for Lanceborn to leave the spaceport …

But Lanceborn didn't disembark. Ravicks waited, watching, breathing steadily.

After a while, another ship docked beside the Sunhawk. This was a smaller ship, just one of the Guardian jumpships that flitted about the Reef. Two Hunters crossed to Lanceborn's ship and boarded. Ravicks studied them. He wasn't certain, but it looked like the two Hunters he'd encountered on the space station: the human male and the Awoken female. So, they had been hunting Lanceborn, too. Funny how their paths kept crossing.

After a long while, they returned to their ship and departed. Ravicks scrutinized them through his scope. Yes, same armor, same helmets.

He watched their ship depart, memorizing its shape and decals. After a while, the Sunhawk departed, too.

Ravicks returned his rifle to its sling and crouched there for a while, deep in thought. These Guardians had been seeking Lanceborn … perhaps for a treaty of some sort? Or maybe they shared a clan? Humans and Awoken often lived together in family clans, much as the Eliksni did. Perhaps the Awoken female shared a blood lineage with Lanceborn. The human … well, humans had been known to pair with Awoken, so perhaps he was her mate.

Ravicks sat back and inhaled the corrupt ether, holding it in his lungs. As he did, a plan began to form itself in his head, as if whispered from the outside. A plan to trap Lanceborn and destroy him at last.

* * *

Max stood at a short distance from Sorrel, pretending to polish Crimson's barrel. She was speaking with two Awoken women and a man about Tony Atkin's pirate history. They were in an underground village, deep within the heart of an asteroid. Sun lamps built into the ceiling flooded the cavern with daylight. The houses were built of scavenged parts from spaceships, and greenery grew everywhere - moss on the walls, creeping vines, trained shrubs heavy with berries, pampered trees growing multiple types of fruit. The air was thick and warm with humidity, so different from the parchingly dry wind outside.

Max and Sorrel had been awkwardly friendly since dawn woke them that morning. Max didn't want to talk about last night, and neither did Sorrel, yet it hung between them, a huge problem that neither of them knew how to tackle.

They'd flown out to the first settlement on Spider's list, Sunset Camp. Shortly after the Red War, pirates had attacked, killing several guards and civilians, and running off with vital food and oxygen supplies. Tony Atkin was identified among them.

When Max tried asking questions, the Awoken had only stared blankly. It wasn't until Sorrel stepped up that they thawed and began telling her about the raid. As a human, Max was an alien lifeform - worse, he was a lower sort of creature, only slightly higher than an ape.

So he moved off and pretended to stand guard, fooling with his weapon. Inside his head, he said, "Zero, have I ruined everything?"

"What, questioning these snobs?" Zero replied. She hovered at his shoulder, glaring at the Awoken. "Bigoted jerks. Just because they're _Reefborn_ …"

"No, I mean, with Sorrel."

Zero turned to look at him, the wolf insignia on her blue shell flashing in the light. "Last night? I don't know. Vox and I think things are … well, not as bad as all that. Let her process. She did kiss you."

"She did." Again, Max felt her fingers running through his hair, sending chills down his back, and the touch of her lips against his temple. By Fellwinter's flaming _blade_ , he hadn't wanted her to stop.

"I shouldn't have kissed her," Max thought. "I only wanted to make her feel better. She's so upset about her dad. I thought … if I kissed her scars … I could show her …" His thought trailed off and he dragged a hand down his face. "What am I even doing, Zero? I feel like I'm flying blind."

"We both are," Zero replied. "I have less experience with relationships than you do. I met my Guardian, I fell for him, and I pestered him until he was ready to bond. End of story."

Max grinned and stroked her shell. "I guess I'm doing the same thing with Sorrel. Following her around like a puppy until she gives in."

"It's a valid strategy," Zero said, emoting a smile. "I think you need to treat Sorrel more delicately than I treated you, though."

"You were brutally honest, sometimes," Max agreed. "Sorrel's like a porcelain teacup. One wrong move and I could smash her to bits. The trouble is, I don't know what moves are wrong. Seems like everything I've done has been wrong."

"Just be patient," Zero said. "These things take time. Besides, we have to make sure you won't get fired and exiled the second we get home."

"You had to bring that up." The knowledge that his future hung on a knife's edge made him sick at his stomach. If Lord Dasa would vouch for him, a jury might side with Max. But if Dasa said that any work Max did for Spider was done without his knowledge or consent, Max was through. Maybe Lord Saladin would take him on at the Iron Temple permanently. Either way, he couldn't drag Sorrel into exile, so this relationship thing they had going on was pointless. And he'd still kissed her, like an idiot.

But dammit, she had looked so lost and friendless, talking about being doomed to follow in her father's footsteps. It distressed Max, having seen that play out in other people's lives down at the police precinct. He imagined Sorrel as a rogue Guardian, hardened, her long hair shaved to nothing, the soft green of her eyes turned to hard, shallow jade. Just one more ruthless killer.

_Please, not Sorrel. Don't let that happen to her._

Max returned Crimson to its holster and watched Sorrel talking to the Awoken. She may be Earthborn, but she was still the same race - the blue skin, glowing eyes, and exotic hair colors. Her scars seemed to elicit their pity, especially when she explained how they had come about.

As Max began to mentally kick himself, Zero said inside his head, "Don't, Guardian. She's forgiven you."

"I'll never forgive myself," Max thought.

"You should," Zero said. "Learn from it and move on. Never chase monsters on a sparrow without putting on your helmet first."

Max chuckled.

Nearby, the conversation seemed to be ending. The Awoken were bowing to each other and saying farewell. Sorrel awkwardly attempted the Reefborn bow, which made the others laugh. Then she returned to Max, and the others returned to their town.

"What'd you learn?" Max asked.

"Tell you on the way out," Sorrel said in a low voice.

They began hiking up through the broad entrance tunnel, which had a paved road down the middle for supply vehicles. After a moment, Sorrel said, "Dad was part of the raid, all right. Everyone saw his tattoos, even in the dark. But he didn't kill anyone. A Corsair put an arrow through him, and he broke her leg with his hammer. Mostly he let the others do the violence and he helped haul away supplies."

"So it's true," Max said grimly.

Sorrel held up a hand. "Wait. There's more."

Max waited.

Sorrel drew a long breath. "The village was devastated, as you can guess. Well, a few days later, a bunch of guards went to pick up more supplies. And the pirates's ship was crashed right beside the road up there. The stolen cargo was piled neatly to one side. Only one box was missing, because it had burned in the crash. Every single pirate was dead. Except Dad, who was nowhere to be found."

"Huh," said Max. "Undercover job, then?"

"Sounds like it," Sorrel said.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Max turned this story around and around in his head. As eyewitness testimony, it was pretty good. "Did you make a recording?"

"Yes, Vox captured it all."

"Good. If we can knock out all these accusations, we can exonerate your dad. Five more to go."

For a few minutes, neither of them said anything. Then Sorrel ventured, "Maybe he's not a traitor Guardian after all."

"Maybe not," Max agreed. "If we can clear him, then maybe we can clear me."

Sorrel gave him a worried look. "I forgot about that. All you need is Lord Dasa's word, right?"

"Right," Max said. "I'm just worried he won't cooperate."

"Sure he will," Sorrel replied. She pulled her helmet back on as they glimpsed light from the surface. "I won't let them exile you, Max. You didn't do anything wrong."

Max donned his own helmet. "I hope so. Leave it to Spider to hang someone on a technicality."

His helmet HUD lit up with hostile markers. His Ghost said, "Look out. Fallen outside. Looks like they're planning a raid."

"Alert the guards," Max said. "Come on, Sorrel, let's give the Fallen a little surprise taste of Light."

Sorrel grinned and lifted her scout rifle from its shoulder strap.

At the mouth of the cave, they paused to peer out. The Fallen had arrived in a skiff that hovered just out of the cavern's line of sight. A large number of Dregs milled around, kept in check by several Vandals and one Captain. They seemed to be waiting for some signal to begin their attack.

"I'll go first and draw their fire," Max whispered. "You go stealthy and pick them off once they're distracted."

"Right," Sorrel said, chambering a round. "Go!" She faded into the shadows, Void Light enveloping her until she was practically invisible.

Max summoned his Golden Gun, blazing with Light, and charged into the open. "Hey, bug faces! I'm talking to you!"

In the second it took for the aliens to focus on him, Max popped the Captain's shield and put a bullet through his head. As the corpse caught fire and burned in cascades of sparks like thermite, Max's third bullet felled a Vandal who appeared to be the second in command.

The aliens screeched and opened fire. Max dodged sideways and took refuge behind the old shell of a crashed ship. There he pulled out Crimson and began fighting the Dregs swarming after him with knives drawn.

Sorrel's scout rifle spoke from the cave entrance. Some of the Dregs ran in her direction on all fours, only to have their heads blown off by her steady aim. Several hovering robots with guns, called shanks, unloaded cover fire into Sorrel's location. Max blasted them from the side. Dregs scampered in all directions, seeking cover.

A sudden hush fell over the battlefield. Max took the opportunity to reload. "Did we get them?"

"No, a bunch of them fell back to their skiff," Sorrel replied. "They're working on something. I can't see what it is - maybe a heavy shank."

Max had never seen a heavy shank. For a second, he was struck by the thought that Sorrel really did know more about the Fallen than he did. No point in giving them time to regroup. He charged out of hiding, summoning a grenade in his left hand. "Hey suckers!"

The Fallen had been creeping up on his position, dragging a huge metal net between them. As Max threw the grenade, the aliens threw their net.

He never saw the grenade's explosion, because the net electrified with arc energy the instant it touched him. Max went down, paralyzed and blinded, pain shocking through his muscles. He convulsed and thrashed, but he couldn't control himself well enough to throw the net off. "Sorrel!" he managed to cry through clenched jaws.

Then a Vandal ran up and clubbed him in the head with a rifle butt. Max's world exploded into stars and crackling lightning that gradually faded into nothing.


	11. No use for Light, dead thing

At Quitter's Well, Ravicks watched as his Dregs dragged the Guardian's body off the skiff, still contained in the arc net. It no longer sparked, but the Guardian was limp and motionless.

A Vandal approached him and bowed. Ravicks said only, "Dead?"

"Injured, sir," the Vandal replied. "Unconscious. We were prepared to kill him should he awaken, but he has not."

Ravicks shifted his grip on his arc spear, closing the fingers of his lower hand around the power trigger. "Is it the male or the female?"

"The male, sir."

Ravicks had a plan for either one of the hunters. Should his Dregs capture the female Guardian, he had planned to torture her, himself. Female Awoken had such tasty hearts. But the male interested him less, except as bait to lure in Lanceborn. Torturing the male, himself, was uninteresting. He had struck a deal to pass the male Guardian off to Fikrul, who had been coveting a captive Guardian to work his dark sorcery upon. In exchange, Fikrul had given him more dark ether. Ravicks was growing quite dependent on it.

The Dregs dragged the net and the body it contained into the cavern mouth, past the light rods and the dead Servitors. Several of them walked behind the net, kicking the unconscious Guardian with their clawed feet when they thought Ravicks wasn't looking. Ravicks pretended not to see. The Guardian's Ghost would mend him, so why not let the Dregs have a little fun?

They hauled the Guardian into Fikrul's private cavern, half-stone, half-ship cabin. The Scorn chieftain awaited them, leaning on his staff and grinning from behind his eyeless mask. "Excellent," he wheezed. "Remove it from the net. Carefully."

A circle had been drawn on the floor with some dark, ashy substance. Lines had been drawn through it to create a multi-pointed star, and candles burned at each point. The circle seemed to shimmer before Ravicks's eyes, reeking of some dark power that Fikrul was calling forth. Mighty Eliksni that he was, Ravicks still shuddered at the sight. If this was not a summoning circle for Taken, it was something close to it. The names of the worm gods were written in each space of the star.

The Dregs disliked it, too. Hissing and muttering to each other, they dumped the Guardian out of the net. But before they could lift him, Fikrul raised a hand. "First, strip off its gear."

The Dregs complied, gleefully pulling off the gauntlets, the helmet, the cloak and armored vest, the heavy boots and armored pants. The Guardian was revealed as an ordinary human male, wearing nothing but a thermal undersuit.

"Leave it the pelt," said Fikrul. "I do not wish it to freeze to death. Keep the armor as your reward. Now, bring the creature into the circle."

The Dregs obeyed, shivering as they entered the circle. They deposited the Guardian as instructed, then hurriedly jumped back to clear floor. There they began squabbling over the armor.

"What will become of it?" Ravicks asked. "Surely you don't mean to send it through a Maw."

"No, no," Fikrul said. He was busy attaching manacles and chains to the Guardian's limbs, and winching them tight to the walls. "I wish to test the dark ether on a Guardian's flesh. I speculate that I could seal the Light within them, leaving them muzzled, unable to manifest it."

An ambitious aim. Ravicks nodded. "And if the Guardian kills you?"

"I have been killed by Guardians before," Fikrul said, his breath rattling in his throat. "Death can no longer hold me. It is my gift from my father."

Ravicks gazed at the human, now spread-eagled in the midst of the dark circle. "Keep me informed. I go to lay my trap for Lanceborn. See that this one does not escape."

"There is no escape for this dead thing," said Fikrul. "When you finish with Lanceborn, bring his corpse to me, also. Humans are not born of ether, but they are not immune to it, either."

* * *

Sorrel didn't realize that Max had been captured at first. She heard the grenade go off, then had to deal with another swarm of shanks that were all intent on entering the village cavern. Sorrel fought them off, sometimes hand to hand, the constant barrage of bullets denting her body armor and tearing up her arms and legs.

She was joined halfway through the fight by a troop of Corsairs, come to defend the village. They helped her dispatch the shanks, then hurried outside to deal with the Fallen while Sorrel rested. As Vox healed her wounds, she was aware of the skiff taking off.

"Good, they're running," she growled, wiping blood off her wrist, where it had oozed out from under her gauntlet. "Filthy bugs. Max, are you all right?"

No answer.

Sorrel looked at her Ghost. "Vox, where's Max?"

"Unconscious," Vox reported. She opened her shell and seemed to listen for signals. "Oh my. Max is on that skiff. I think they captured him."

"What?" Sorrel shrieked, leaping to her feet. She ran out of the cave mouth and stood watching the skiff fading into the distance. "Why would they take Max? The Fallen kill Guardians! They don't capture them!"

"Zero is staying in contact," Vox said, her blue eye fixed on the skiff. "She's frightened. She doesn't dare show herself."

Sorrel clenched her fists. "Can you fly Max's ship? We could chase them down."

"I'm sorry," Vox said, turning to look at her from inside her Light field. "I don't have the security codes to communicate with Max's ship. And I'm not sure I could fly it if I did."

One of the Corsairs called, "Hey, a little help?"

Sorrel was forced to help drag dead aliens into a pile, and gather up ruined shank parts. The whole time, Vox kept tracking Zero's signal.

"Quitter's Well," Vox said at last. "They're taking him into a cave there. Zero says that it reeks of Darkness."

"Call Dad," Sorrel said, dumping an armload of shank parts on the growing pile of stinking corpses. "He'll know what to do."

The Corsairs doused the pile in fuel and lit it. The dead aliens caught fire with a whoosh and burned furiously, sending off a column of black smoke. The lingering ether in the bodies burned like gasoline. Sorrel backed away from the heat and stood listening.

"Patching you through to Tony," Vox said.

A moment later, Tony's voice said, "Sorrel?"

"Dad," Sorrel said, "the Fallen captured Max. They hauled him off to Quitter's Well. I can't access his ship, and I'm stranded at Sundown Camp."

"Slow down," Tony said, his voice soothing and calm. "Start from the beginning. What happened?"

Sorrel told him everything, trying to speak calmly and rationally. She didn't want to come off as a hysterical nutjob to her father, especially since she barely knew him. But inside, a voice was screaming and screaming that Max was in danger, that she had to do something _right now_.

When she finished her account, Tony was silent for a moment. "Hmm. Quitter's Well. That's where Fikrul the Fanatic hangs out."

"Who's that?"

"Chieftain of the Scorn. Why would Fallen have dealings with him? They hate him because he raises their dead as monsters."

"I don't know," Sorrel said. It was so hard to think with panic pounding through her.

"What house were the Dregs?" Tony asked. "What colors did they wear?"

Sorrel glanced at the bonfire. "They didn't wear any colors. Just kind of a dirty gray."

"No purple?"

"Not that I saw. They weren't from House Dusk?"

Tony sounded grim. "Unaligned Fallen? Working with Scorn? This smells like Ravicks the Butcher to me. I think your friend Max is being used as bait."

"Bait!" Sorrel exclaimed. "For what?"

"Apparently," Tony said slowly, "Ravicks has been watching us. He knows that I've been communicating with you two. So he drags one of you off - only one of you. That's significant. He knows that Guardians will do anything for their teammates. And he expects you to call me in."

Sorrel gazed helplessly at Max's docked ship, nearby. "What do we do? We can't just leave him to the Scorn!"

"Oh, I'll help you," Tony said. "We just have to go about it carefully. Fikrul's cave is connected to a regular warren of tunnels. I think we could sneak in from the back, rather than simply landing outside and announcing our presence. All right, I'm on my way to pick you up. Sit tight, Sorrel. Everything will work out."

She wished she could believe that. Right now, all she could think about was Max having his heart torn out - or an electrified dagger being plunged through Zero's core.

She paced back and forth, unable to keep still. When the Corsairs thanked her and asked if she was all right, she only smiled and said she was waiting for a ride.

Vox said in her head, "Fikrul has Max in a Light suppressing circle. Max is tied up, but Zero managed to heal him on the sly. Fikrul hasn't done anything, yet. He and Max are just talking."

"Keep me posted," Sorrel thought. A Light-suppressing circle? The Scorn could do that? At least Max was alive and unharmed, though. That made her feel a little less panicky. "Tell him that Dad and I are going to sneak in and rescue him. But keep it secret."

"Give me a minute." After a while, Vox said, "Zero thanks us, and says to be careful. Ravicks has been in and out, and she's afraid he's waiting for you. Max is encouraged. He's more annoyed than scared right now."

This reassured Sorrel enormously. She was breathing almost normally when the Sunhawk swooped in and hovered with a blast of engines. Vox transmatted her aboard.

Sorrel appeared on the upper deck, in the space behind the cockpit where extra cargo could be stored. Tony was in the pilot seat. "Come strap in," he called.

As Sorrel did so, finding the seat large and unfamiliar, Tony said, "Heard from your friend?"

"Yes," Sorrel said. "He's tied up in a Light suppression ring, but Fikrul hasn't done anything else yet. Ravicks is waiting for us."

"I thought so," Tony muttered. He'd suited up in his armor again, still with no helmet and bare arms. "I'd better not fly straight to Quitter's Well. We'll take the scenic route."

As the ship lifted off and gained altitude, Sorrel asked, "Why don't you wear stuff over your arms? Gauntlets and such?"

Tony grinned. "Oh, I have a suit for fighting in vacuum. I just never wear it. Most places in the Reef have atmosphere, and my tats work better uncovered." He held up one arm and rotated it, showing off the markings.

"What do you mean, they work better?" Sorrel asked.

"Light-conducting inks," Tony said. "Sunbreaker secret. Probably lost now, since Mike died in the war. He was our ink specialist."

"So … they let you channel your Light?"

Tony nodded. "Bigtime. Has to do with the body's leylines or somesuch. I can summon my supercharge as often as I want. Buck's tied into it somehow, but he's not sure exactly what Mike did."

His Ghost floated nearby, watching the ship's controls, his shield-shell pulled together as small as it would go. "It's true," he said. "The Sunbreaker arts were fascinating. I keep hoping we'll find some of our friends wandering here or there, but we never have."

"Maybe some of them are on Earth," Sorrel said. "We found records of them fleeing with evacuation shuttles."

"A lot of them died trying to retake the City," Tony said. "Turns out, the Traveler did the work for us. If only we'd been patient." He heaved a sigh. "Water under the bridge. Having you back, Sorrel, is more than I could ask for. And I would like to see your mother again. Is she remarried?"

"No," Sorrel said. "She said that she could hear your voice sometimes, and it's how she knew you were alive. She always held out hope that you'd come back. And …" She couldn't hide a smile. "I fully intended to break your nose when you did."

Tony laughed out loud. "My brave girl! You may be dressed like a Hunter, but you have the heart of a Titan."

"I could have qualified for a Titan," Sorrel said. "I'm strong enough. But I've always used Void Light to hide and disappear, which is a Hunter trait. So my counselor advised me to stick with my strengths."

"I agree," Tony said. "I've met some sneaky Titans, but when the chips are down, they never fight from the shadows. I'm glad you're that way. You'll get hurt less often."

The way he said it made Sorrel wonder if he was still talking about Light. There was a short silence while she uncomfortably added it up and it kept coming out as relationship advice. She cleared her throat. "While we have a minute … can I ask why you left Mom?"

Tony switched hands on the flightstick and flexed his fingers, as if they were somehow stiff from flying for twenty minutes. After a moment, he said, "The Sunbreakers were a rough crowd. I knew that if I took you and your mother with me, you'd be living hand to mouth with some of the roughest, meanest Lightbearers in the solar system. I'd always felt the call of the sun, and I'd been practicing with Solar Light on the sly. The Vanguard frowned on that at the time. I needed training, and … I can't explain how unbearable it is to feel your Light burning inside you and not be able to use it. So I left you and your mother where I thought you'd be safe. I left that stipend for you and Havila to live on. I divorced Hav, so she could be free of me if I went missing in action. I tried to leave you two in the best state that I could."

"All I knew was that you left us," Sorrel said quietly, feeling again the hurt, the unexplainable abandonment. "I asked Mom why you were gone so many times. I never understood."

"I shouldn't have left," Tony said bitterly. "I could have traveled back and forth. I see that, now. But at the time, there was such a bias against the Sunbreakers in the Vanguard that becoming one severed all ties. Become a Sunbreaker, leave Earth, was the expectation." He smiled and chuckled, a single half-breath. "And look at me now. The Sunbreakers are gone. I'm the last one. No family, no team, nothing but me and my Ghost living the vigilante life."

"Speaking of which," Sorrel said, "that's why were were at Sunset Camp, was to ask about your piracy there."

"Oh?" Tony said. "What'd you find out?"

Sorrel met his glowing orange eyes. "They said that you helped raid them. And a few days later, the pirate ship was found crashed, almost all the cargo intact, and the pirates were dead."

"Funny how that happens," Tony said with a straight face, watching his instruments. "Probably a microburst knocked them out of the air. Too bad."

"Would a microburst stack all the cargo out of reach of the burning wreck?"

Tony shrugged. "The wind out here can be pretty strange."

Sorrel couldn't hide a grin anymore. "Yeah, so, we were supposed to visit other towns when Max got caught. We'll get him back and keep at it."

"You do that," Tony said.

There was a short silence. Then Sorrel said, "So … why did you double-cross the pirates that way?"

"After the Red War," Tony said, "there was a lot of unrest. Prince Uldren showed up again, but for a long time, he wandered around on his own, finally taking up with pirates to raid his own people. This made piracy fashionable. There were a lot of Awoken men who were questioning the matriarchy at that time. Without Mara Sov to keep them in check, the Reefborn had no leadership, no real reason to keep to the old customs. The only leader of any kind we had was Uldren, and Uldren was off his rocker. Injured in the Battle of Saturn, I think. Anyway, a lot of disillusioned young men went out and started living the criminal life. Quite a few young women who couldn't qualify as Corsairs did, too."

"And then you came along," Sorrel said.

Tony nodded. "Buck and I barely survived having the Light go out. That's when I killed a Cabal phalanx with my bare hands, took the shield, and worked Buck into it."

"I volunteered, actually," Buck said, opening his shield a little to show it off. "We were both so weak, and so many others had died. All I could think of was that I could protect my Guardian from that one stray bullet that would take his life. And I did."

Tony smiled at his Ghost. "Plucky little guy. Anyway, we survived somehow. But out here, the Cabal weren't as much of a problem as the pirates were. You can't imagine the rage of seeing your fellow Guardians cut down by rogue Awoken. I was furious. So when the Light came back, I started passing myself off as a burned-out Guardian who just wanted to make a living. The pirates saw me as a huge asset - the Outlaw Sunbreaker - and welcomed me with open arms. And then … well, they started mysteriously disappearing. Ships crashed. Pirate captains had unexpected encounters with Petra Venj's hunting parties and wound up in the Prison of Elders. I only ran with pirates about six months before they figured out I was destroying them from the inside. Then I publicly switched sides and ran with Petra. We stamped out the rest of the riffraff. There's still pirates, now, but they're a lot fewer, and they're terrified of me. It's one reason I hang around the Reef. I'm the bogeyman."

"That's how Lord Dasa talked about you," Sorrel said. "He didn't know if you were a hero or a villain."

Tony shrugged. "Dasa sits up at Reefedge in his nice little compound. He doesn't get out much, just listens to what people tell him. I imagine he's heard quite a few conflicting stories. I'll fly up there once this is over with and set him straight. Just need some more eyewitness testimony is all. Spider's webs aren't as long as he thinks they are."

He brought the Sunhawk down in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. They landed on a narrow strip of land between two projecting asteroids, almost a ravine. There were no towns in sight, no Fallen camps, nothing but blowing dust.

"Hope you brought a load of ammo," Tony said. "We're going to hike into the backside of Quitter's Well. Lot of stuff lives in there because of the water source."

"As long as we can get to Max, I don't care," Sorrel said.

Tony shot her a long look, his brows lowered. But all he said was, "Suit up."

Sorrel pulled on her helmet and checked the fastenings of her woolen cloak. Then she and Tony transmatted outside. He led her into a tunnel in the side of the asteroid, and Sorrel followed him into darkness.

* * *

Max awakened with a splitting headache. He could barely open his eyes at first, but Zero's healing Light touched him, gradually easing away the pain and swelling. All sounds echoed, and footsteps shuffled nearby. His whole body was pinched with cold. "Where are we?" he thought to Zero.

"Inside a cave at Quitter's Well," she replied in his head. "The Fallen dragged you off and handed you to the Scorn chieftain, Fikrul."

That was bad. Max fought his eyes open and moved his limbs. Cold steel manacles bit into his wrists and ankles, holding him on his back on the stone floor. He lay in some kind of evil-looking circle of lines and symbols, and candles burned all around him. Nearby loomed a huge alien. At first Max thought he was a Fallen - the creature stood twelve feet tall when he stretched, but he tended to hunch over, as if his back pained him. He had the four arms of a Fallen, but his skin was discolored and studded with foul blue blisters. He wore a helmet that covered his eyes, and the top was decorated with two opposing wing-shapes. The reek of decay rolled off him with every movement.

Max glanced down at himself, looking for Crimson, and realized that he was well-nigh naked. "Zero!" he yelped inside his head. "Where's my stuff?"

"They stripped you and the Dregs carried it off," Zero said sorrowfully.

"Even Crimson?"

"No, I stored Crimson as soon as they knocked you out," Zero replied. "If you can free your hands, I can give it to you. You'd just reloaded it."

Somewhat reassured, Max studied his captor.

Fikrul was working at a table with a lot of little bottles and vials. A fog of blue-black ether hung around him in the air, reeking of sulfur. He glanced over his shoulder at Max, and said, "Ah. It awakens." His voice was a wet-sounding wheeze, as if he was speaking through a lung disease.

"What do you want with me?" Max said. Whatever it was, it involved some kind of ritual like the Hive were known to do. The cold that was eating into him seemed to have quenched his very Light, because he couldn't summon his Golden Gun no matter how hard he tried.

Fikrul chuckled. "Long have I wanted one of your kind. I have a theory to test on you. If it works, we will have gained an edge over you plagues of the Light."

"So I'm an experiment," Max said. "This is the second time this has happened to me. And you know, I'm kind of sick of it."

"Indeed?" Fikrul said, but not as if he were paying attention. He was too focused on the mysterious alchemy happening between his four hands.

"Zero," Max thought. "Can you reach Sorrel? Tell her where I am."

"I did," Zero replied. "She's waiting for Tony to pick her up. They're coming to rescue you. Just hold on."

Max tugged at the manacles. "Hold on. That's a joke."

At that point, the huge Fallen Captain Max had seen in the wrecked space station stepped into the cave. Ravicks carried a superior-looking wire rifle in two hands. In the other two hands, he was holding a tank with a tube attached, breathing in the contents.

"Hey, aren't you Ravicks the Butcher?" Max said in surprise.

The alien stared at him, his four eyes expressionless. Then he turned and spoke a few words to Fikrul. Fikrul made an impatient gesture with an upper arm. Ravicks turned and paced out the way he had come.

"This is a trap," Max thought to Zero. "They're using me to draw in Tony so Ravicks can ambush him."

"I've already told Sorrel this," Zero replied. "She and Tony are planning accordingly. Oh, I wish I could get you out of here. But there's no transmat network. And this Darkness circle is making me dizzy."

"Don't manifest, whatever you do," Max thought. "Remember last time? I'm not risking you getting captured or hurt."

"I'm staying phased," Zero replied. "But it's horrible, because it's so dark in this circle. There's things whispering. A thousand of them."

Max's skin crawled. He couldn't hear any whispers, but then, he wasn't focusing on the circle or the candles. He was watching his enemies, instead, trying to figure out how to escape. He twisted his wrists in the manacles and tugged with his knees, but the steel didn't give.

He was peering at the spots where the chains attached to winches on the walls when Fikrul turned. The alien gazed at him for a long moment - although this was difficult to tell, with the helmet over his eyes - and lifted the contraption from the table. A small tank of dark ether was connected by a tube to an object like a stylus. But instead of a pen nib, there was a wicked-looking needle at the end.

"Oh no," Max said. "Not needles. You're not injecting me with that garbage."

Fikrul carefully stepped inside the circle, avoiding the candles, and knelt beside Max. His head was huge, and so were his clawed hands. The stench of rot and body odor made Max gag.

"If I were to inject this ether into your heart," Fikrul rasped, "you would instantly die. That is useless to me. I am drawing inspiration from Lanceborn and his Light markings. My theory is that similar markings could act as a plug, instead of a conduit." Fikrul peeled back Max's sleeve, bearing his arm. Then he jabbed the needle into Max's bicep.

Max snarled and squirmed, but Fikrul simply held him down with a free hand and kept jabbing. The needle only went in skin deep, but it still hurt. Dark ether flowed from the needle beneath the skin, leaving behind a blue-black set of lines.

"Zero," Max thought, "tell Sorrel and Tony to hurry. Let them know what craziness Fikrul is doing."

"Working on it," Zero replied. Her voice trembled. "Max, that dark ether is so bad. It's toxic to your Light. Looking at you, part of you is actually going dark as he's working. Oh, why can't I help you? I'd fight Fikrul, if I could!"

"Don't," Max thought fiercely. "Stay hidden. He'd kill you and sell your shell to Spider. If all he's doing is giving me an evil tattoo, I'll live. We can laser it off later."

"I don't know if you can get rid of ether that easily," Zero said.

The jabbing needle was leaving behind a trail of blood. Fikrul wiped it off with his fourth hand and absently licked his fingers. Max gagged again and turned his head the other way. The pain wasn't that bad - being tied down was more distressing to him than the irritating prick of the needle. But the ether under his skin was beginning to make his arm go numb. Fikrul was writing something around the circumference of his arm in a script Max couldn't read. Probably the names of the worm gods or something equally horrible.

"Zero, can you read what he's writing?"

"No," she replied. "I mean, maybe if I could come out of phase and look at it from there. From here, it's just this black thing he's wrapping around you."

Max looked up at Fikrul's mask and said, "So, what's it say?"

Fikrul bared his teeth in a grin. Max had to turn his head away or throw up from the alien's putrid breath.

Fikrul said a string of words in the Eliksni language that sounded guttural and foul. He added in English, "It is an incantation to bind and silence. I believe it is working. No more will this arm be of use to you, dead thing."

He forcefully turned Max's arm over and tattooed the underside, completing the circle, pausing to wipe off the blood and lick his hand. Max's whole arm was numb from the tattoo down. His fingers kept curling into a fist, no matter how hard he tried to straighten them.

Fikrul stepped around him to the other arm and began the same process, writing the same script. Numbing cold began to creep down that arm, too.

"Any word on Sorrel and Tony?" Max thought. "If he keeps this up, I won't be able to use my Light at all."

"They're getting closer," Zero replied, sounding near tears. "Max, this is awful. I thought it would take him longer to do this to you. But he's so fast! He'll be finished by the time rescue gets here. And then … you won't be able to use your Golden Gun or your knives anymore. What should I do? I can't fight this!"

"Stay hidden," Max thought. "No matter what he does to me, all right? If he kills me, don't show up until Sorrel and Tony get here. You've got to stay safe."

Zero made a wordless moan in reply.

Fikrul seemed to be improving at his craft. The second tattoo went faster than the first, the script cleaner and more elegant. When he finished, the fingers of that hand curled closed, too. Max kept thinking that the manacles had made his arms lose all feeling - but it was from the tattoos down. He struggled and snarled up at the alien.

Fikrul rose to his feet and inspected the ether tank. Then he studied Max for a long time, stepping in and out of the circle, as if the dark magic within gave him a different vantagepoint.

"Your arms are dead," Fikrul wheezed at last. "Putting a ring around your neck would kill you, I think. That does my experiment no good. I wish to muzzle the Light. You Guardians only summon Light with your hands, but the conduit runs throughout your weak bodies. Perhaps around each leg. Yes. Then around the chest. Trap the Light in a smaller and smaller space."

He stepped back to his work table to recharge the dark ether bottle from a larger one. Max struggled against the manacles with all his strength, trying to break free. With his wrists numb, he pulled much harder than he would have, cutting through the skin and nearly breaking his wrists. But the steel held.

"Heads up," Zero said. "Here comes the cavalry."


	12. Orbital Techeun

Max looked around, hope and relief spreading through him. He saw no one, but suddenly a knife flashed out of nowhere and buried itself in Fikrul's back. Fikrul hissed and spun around, glaring at Max. But as another knife flashed out of nowhere, Fikrul realized he was under attack by an invisible enemy. He lashed out with his staff, lightning crackling up and down its length. It struck something, and Sorrel's voice cursed from out of thin air. Then a sidearm barked three times, punching through Fikrul's chest from the side.

The alien stumbled sideways, holding his chest. Then he slumped to the floor, all four hands twitching. "This is not … the end," he gasped as he died. Then he lay still, dark ether curling in a mist from between his teeth.

Sorrel appeared in a shimmer of Void Light and ran to the edge of the circle. "Max! What's he done to you?"

At that moment, even with her helmet on, Max thought Sorrel was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. "Don't enter the circle!" Max exclaimed without taking his eyes off her. "Undo the chains over there, at the winch parts!"

Sorrel rushed to the first winch and fiddled with the controls. At the same time, the battle roar of a mature Eliksni echoed down the passage, followed by wild gunshots and the thud of blows being delivered. A second later, there was an unmistakable metallic clang as Tony Atkin summoned his fiery hammer.

"He's going to need help," Max said, lifting his head and peering down the passage. "Ravicks was smoking dark ether."

"Oh, we'll help," Sorrel exclaimed, working the winch controls. The left chain went slack, the manacle falling open. As Max pulled in his arm and tried to flex his icy fingers, Sorrel added, "Zero said that you have some sweet new tattoos?"

"Yeah, they're pretty gnarly," Max said. "They keep me from using the Light with my hands. And my arms are dead. I don't know if I could even use a gun."

Sorrel gave him a horrified look. "Well … it's just ink, right? They can be removed."

"I hope so." Max watched Sorrel work to free him and tried not to think about how few clothes he was wearing. This was humiliating as well as painful. At least Fikrul hadn't started working on his legs, or he'd be pants-free at the moment. As she released him from the last chain, he struggled to his feet and stepped out of the dark circle, kicking over a few candles as he went. He pulled his arms in against his chest, trying to warm them. It was like cradling a couple of logs.

Zero recklessly appeared, despite the danger, and played her healing beam across the nearest ether tattoo. Nothing happened. "I can't even touch it," she said in dismay. "It's like Darkness itself infused into your skin."

"Great," Max said. Standing there in his bare feet and thin undersuit, he realized that the cavern must be about twenty degrees. His arms were as cold as the stone underfoot, and he began to shiver. "Zero, got any stored armor?"

Zero transmatted his old boots with holes in them, a pair of grungy pants, and a leather vest without much armor, putting them straight onto his body. "I'm sorry, that's all I had," she said. "Not even a cloak."

It was slightly warmer with a layer of gear on, but Max kept shivering. Sorrel took his hands and rubbed them, her worried green eyes searching his face. "This is bad, Max. I've never even heard of this. How can we help Dad like this?"

Max looked down at his useless hands. "Take Crimson. Go help him. I'll hide out back here until you're done."

"Max," Sorrel began, but she was interrupted by a huge crash and the sound of two bodies hitting the walls as Ravicks and Tony grappled.

Max jerked his head at Zero, who transmatted Crimson into Sorrel's hands. "Go. I shot Ravicks with it once. Flank him."

Sorrel took Crimson and gripped it correctly in both hands. Then she nodded at Max and disappeared in a shimmer of Void Light.

Max hurried to the wall beside the passage and peered down it. Ravicks had buried his teeth in Tony's shoulder, and was trying to shift his hold to his throat. Tony was spinning in circles, beating at the alien's body with his burning hammer. Ravicks's left two arms were broken and useless, trailing blood and ether, but he hung on with the determination of a bulldog. The shimmer of Void Light that was Sorrel crept toward them, trying to find an opening to pump Ravicks full of lead.

A breath of air touched Max's neck. He looked around. Dark ether was curling around Fikrul's corpse. The corpse began to swell and contract with breath. One of the alien's arms dragged forward to his head.

"Zero," Max thought, "what do I do? I can't use my rifle."

"Uh," Zero said. Her anxiety bit into his mind. "You can't use your hands to summon Light. I don't know, I don't know! He was going to seal off your legs, so can you summon Light with them?"

"With my _legs_?" Max thought in disbelief. "What do you expect me to do, shoot bullets from my knees?"

"Warlocks cast healing rifts with their feet," Zero replied. "Surely you could do something that way!"

Fikrul's other arms were moving, beginning to lever his upper body off the floor. He lifted his head and pulled off his helmet, then spat a wad of phlegm on the floor. He turned his head and looked at Max. His four eyes were dark with a white film over them. "You're still here," he wheezed. "Crippled. Good, good."

"Max, do something!" Zero cried in his head.

Feeling foolish, Max stamped his feet. Nothing happened. He tried to route his Light from its customary path through his hands, aiming it for his feet, instead. A tiny ripple of Light spread out from his boots.

Fikrul rose to his feet and pulled his helmet back on. Twice Max's height, he picked up his staff and smiled. "What say I kill you now? I want to see if your Ghost can bring you back … or if you return without arms." Lightning began to crackle around his staff.

Down the hall, Crimson's distinctive three-round burst rang out once, then twice. Ravicks made a horrible gurgling sound.

Max gathered his Light inside him and pushed it out through his feet. A sky-blue line of Light snaked across the floor and exploded beneath Fikrul's feet like a mine going off. The floor burst upward in a shower of rocks and dust. Fikrul roared. Lightning shot out of the dust and struck Max, freezing his muscles and pitching him to the ground.

Max's numb arms weren't fast enough to keep his head from striking the stone floor. He saw stars and everything went black for a second. Footsteps ran by him, and gunshots rang out. Then someone was lifting him.

"Max, Max," Sorrel was saying, so close that her breath fluttered his hair. "Are you hurt? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," he said faintly through the fresh ache in his head. "Did you get Fikrul?"

"The Fanatic is down for now," Tony's voice said from across the room. "As is Ravicks. But I think both will be back soon, and their rage will feed on each other. Let's go. Can you walk, kid?"

Strong hands hauled him to his feet. Max staggered, but found his balance. "I can walk," he said. "Let's get out of here."

Sorrel and Tony ushered Max through the main passage and out of Fikrul's cavern. Outside, the sun was high, and the wind tried to knock them down. It instantly found every gap in Max's scanty armor, and the cold was just as painful as being electrocuted.

"Calling my ship," Tony said, scanning the sky. "She'll be here in about ten minutes."

Max was pretty sure that he'd be dead of cold in ten minutes. He crouched on the ground and tried to hug himself with his numb arms.

Sorrel shifted beside him, unfastening her cloak. She flipped it open and tucked it around him. Max tried to catch the hem with his useless hands and managed to grab one end. It was the thick woolen cloak he'd gifted to Sorrel back at the Tower. It really was warm, deflecting some of the wind's bite.

Sorrel knelt beside him, trying to block the wind a little, and holding the cloak around him so it didn't blow free. She put an arm around his shoulders and gripped Crimson in her other hand, watching for enemies. Had this happened at any other time, Max would have leaned into her embrace, savoring every second. But at the moment, he was so miserably cold, and confused, and unable to process what had happened to him, her closeness was a mere matter of survival. _Rain check_ , Sorrel, he thought. _I'll make this up to you later. When I'm not a zombie._

Ten minutes passed without anyone saying a word, simply enduring the wind's assault. When the Sunhawk appeared, Max cheered out loud. Their Ghosts transmatted them aboard at once.

Sorrel helped Max into one of the empty seats in the cockpit and strapped him in. She tucked the cloak around him and said, "Are you warm enough?"

"I'll b-be fine," Max said through chattering teeth. The seat was cold, his gear was cold, his arms were cold. It was like all warmth had vanished from the universe.

Tony was in the pilot seat, but he was watching this over his shoulder, brows drawn together. "What'd the Fanatic do to you?"

"D-d-dark ether tattoos around my arms," Max said, clenching his jaw to keep his teeth from clattering. "Shut off my Light."

Tony grunted and turned to his controls. Sorrel lingered beside Max and stroked the side of his face. "We'll fix this," she whispered.

Max could only nod. She had pulled off her helmet, and her curly hair had frizzed. Her hand was the only warm thing in his life right now, and her sympathy was better than medicine. He gazed into her green eyes for a long moment, a smile stealing across his face. "Th-this is a good cloak."

"I know, right?" she said, smiling. "Somebody bought it for me."

"Somebody has good taste," Max said.

Sorrel suddenly leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Her hand found his beard and stroked it. Then she withdrew, turning away as if nothing had happened.

Sudden warmth spread through Max's whole body.

Sorrel strapped in, and Tony took off, heading to orbit. Max was going to ask about his ship, and getting better clothes, but he couldn't muster the energy. The warmth of Sorrel's touch and kiss was soaking through him, even touching the dreadful numbness in his arms. The cloak seemed supernaturally warm, as if Sorrel's affection had become part of the fibers. He leaned his head into the side of the seat and dozed off.

* * *

Sorrel rode in silence for a while, barely paying attention to the course Tony was setting. Max had been hurt, perhaps for the rest of his immortal life. And it was her fault for bringing him to the Reef. The scars on her face felt few and faded compared to Max being crippled in both arms. He'd been cut off from his own Light. Could the ether be removed? Would they have to amputate his arms and hope he resurrected with them intact? The thought was ghastly.

Funny how her worries about their relationship didn't seem so important, now. Who cared if they were friends or something closer? He'd been mutilated, something valuable taken from him, just as her looks had been taken from her. Now they were even. And it was like a knife in her heart that she'd never be able to remove.

"You're quiet," Tony observed.

Sorrel nodded. "I asked him to come with me on this trip. Now he can't use his Light anymore. I'm responsible."

Tony shrugged. "I wouldn't say that. The Darkness twists and destroys. It hates Guardians, and the stronger they are, the more it loathes them. Max has a strong Light aura. Out here in the Reef, he might as well have a target painted on his back."

"I know about his aura," Sorrel said softly. "It's gone dim, now." She looked over her shoulder at Max in the seat behind hers. He was asleep, burrowed into her cloak, his blond hair swept over one side of his face. Zero was nestled into a fold of the cloak at his neck, keeping watch. She blinked sadly at Sorrel.

"I have to help him," Sorrel said, clenching her fists against the armrests. "There's got to be something I can do."

"Glad to hear you say it," said Tony. "I'm taking you to visit your grandmother."

Sorrel stiffened. "The Techeun?"

Tony inclined his head. "Judith Drell wasn't one of the Queen's Techeuns. She held a lower rank and was never assigned a Harbinger. She's what they call an orbital Techeun. But when the rest of them were Taken after the Battle of Saturn, Judith and a few others were the only ones left. She lives out on a rock near the Dreaming City. Don't worry, she's outside the time loop."

Sorrel had seen her mother use paracausal powers from time to time. Havila had been casual about her mother's Techeun powers, even admitting that her own distaste for those powers led her to emigrating to Earth. Sorrel had never seen her grandmother, only heard the occasional story about her mother's childhood, growing up with a mother who could bend the laws of physics as it suited her.

"What's she like?" Sorrel asked.

Tony smirked. "Oh, she hates me. But she might be willing to talk to you. No tech witch ever turns down a paracausal puzzle."

"Why does she hate you?" Sorrel asked.

Tony gave her a rogueish grin. "I think she was in love with me in my past life, and I turned her down. Once I was a Guardian, it took me a long time to figure out what her beef was. Then I married her daughter, and that was even worse."

This bent Sorrel's brain in many different directions, trying to understand it. The long, long lifespans of the Awoken came with more drama than she had ever dreamed of.

"Would she help a couple of Guardians?" Sorrel asked.

Tony shrugged. "The Awoken in general have grown more friendly since the Dreaming City stuff. When they rescued those three Techeuns of the Queen's, well, that brought about a ton of goodwill. I think Judith will give you a chance. Be polite. She is your flesh and blood."

Sorrel glanced back at Max again, who hadn't moved. She beckoned to Zero. The Ghost carefully freed herself from the cloak and flew up to Sorrel.

"Did you catch all that?" Sorrel asked.

"I think so," Zero said. "I'll do anything to help Max at this point. I'll … I'll give my own Light for him, if it'll heal him."

"I hope that won't be necessary," said Sorrel with a small shiver of her own. "I don't know if Judith … Grandmother … will even help him. I don't know anything about Techeuns. Will you help me?"

Zero nodded. "The dark ether hasn't spread beyond the tattoos, but I'm afraid of what happens if it does. It … it could quench his Light entirely. Then Fikrul might be able to do something horrible to him."

Sorrel gulped. "We'll face this together, for his sake. Will you go with me to speak with Grandmother?"

Zero hesitated, turning to look at her Guardian. Then she turned back to Sorrel and nodded.

* * *

Judith Drell lived on a terraformed asteroid a few kilometers outside of the Dreaming City, within sight of its white towers. She was just barely outside the paracausal bubble that formed the time loop. Her position granted her a fabulous vantagepoint from which to study the effects of an Ahamkara wish upon reality, and she was confident that she had begun to unravel its secrets. The Dreaming City, in addition to her other service to the Reef, consumed most of her time.

She was absorbed in calculations, done during meditation, when one of her acolytes approached her. "Ms. Drell …"

Judith opened her eyes in annoyance. The delicate mist of stars and planets between her fingers disappeared with her concentration. "This had better be important."

The acolyte's fingers curled in her white robe. "The Sunhawk has requested permission to land."

The Sunhawk. Tony Atkin's ship. Judith drew a deep, calming breath. How dare that man drop in on her, unannounced. She'd hoped he'd been killed out there when he was fraternizing with pirates.

"Did he say what he wants?" she growled.

The acolyte nodded. "He's bringing a compromised Guardian to you for inspection. He said it involves dark ether."

Despite Judith's inclination to insist that Tony turn his ship around and never come back, a little curiosity sparked inside her. Dark ether? A compromised Guardian? Some of the other orbital Techeuns had made extensive study of dark ether, finding that it consisted of the same paracausal energy that drove the Dreaming City's time loop. This could be a new angle to her own research, providing valuable information.

"Give him permission to land," Judith said. "But Atkin is to remain on his ship. My threat about what happens if I ever see his face again still stands."

The acolyte bowed. "Yes, ma'am." She scurried out.

Judith composed herself, pulling on the elaborate hood that concealed her eyes. It was so made that a little of her power let her see straight through it, but it disconcerted visitors. Guardians may be looked upon with more favor these days, but Judith had never altered her own opinion of them - childish killing machines. This Guardian was a test subject for study, nothing more.

She left her study chambers, crossed the blue crystal floor of her tower, and threw the front doors wide. There she stood, framed in the doorway, watching as the Sunhawk landed in the airfield a short distance down the hill from the tower. The engines shut down, and after a moment, a Guardian and two Ghosts transmatted outside. As they approached, Judith had time to study them.

The Guardian was a young woman, dressed in the leather and metal that her kind favored. One Ghost wore a red and white shell, and the other was all in blue. How odd that she would have two Ghosts. There were many explanations, and Judith waited. She'd hear the truth in a moment.

The Guardian halted a few paces away and made a Reefborn bow - badly. Judith's bow was perfect, although much shallower. She outranked this interloper by virtue of her age alone.

"I am Judith Drell, orbital Techeun," Judith said. "State your name and business, please."

The girl pulled off her helmet and gazed at her earnestly. She was a pretty young thing, or she would have been, if not for the scars.

"I'm Sorrel Atkin," the girl said. "My mother is Havila."

Judith's first impulse was to reject this as falsehood. Then she reconsidered. Havila had sent word decades ago that she had had a child with Tony Atkin. Had her name been Sorrel? Judith had blown off this news at the time, because she wanted nothing to do with any offspring of Atkin's. Of course, this girl was a Guardian, meaning she had died and had her memory wiped. Maybe she had taken a coincidental name and invented the rest.

"What is that to me?" Judith said. "You're a Guardian. Your past is meaningless."

The white and red Ghost flew forward. "I found her when she was a toddler, miss. She wasn't resurrected. She really is the daughter of Tony and Havila Atkin. I swear by my own Light."

Judith gazed at the Ghost for a moment. Despite her distaste for the spawn of the Traveler, they were generally truthful to a fault. She studied the Sorrel girl with a bit more interest. "You say Havila is your mother. Describe her to me."

"About my height," said the girl. "Sea-green hair she grows long. And she could … do things. I could never get away with anything when I was little, because she always knew. I saw her kill Cabal in the Red War just by looking at them. She always laughed that she could have been a Techeun, too."

This was an excellent description of Havila, including the powers of the mind. Judith began to see the resemblance, now. This girl Sorrel did look like her mother, except for the curly dark hair, which she had inherited from her thrice-accursed father.

"Well," said Judith. "It seems you are my granddaughter, for what it matters. Are you compromised by dark ether?"

"No," Sorrel said, "my teammate is. And … it's my fault. This is his Ghost, and she can show you her scans."

Judith held out a hand. "Project the scans here, please."

The blue Ghost flew forward and created a hologram above Judith's palm. The information they contained immediately captured Judith's full attention. Dark ether had been converted to tattoo form and choked off the Light, itself. Fikrul's art had grown with age. But in conducting experiments such as this, he was educating the Techeuns in disassembling his own power, and eventually, the power of Riven, herself. This unfortunate Guardian could provide an immense breakthrough in Judith's research.

"Bring the victim into my tower," she said. "I will study this misuse of ether and decide what may be done."


	13. Hammer of Sol

Max couldn't stop shivering.

The Techeun's tower seemed horribly cold, even without the wind's bite to chill him. He had to return Sorrel's cloak in order to let the creepy woman in the black hood and cloak inspect his tattoos. Now he sat there with no shirt, his useless arms in his lap, and tried to control the tremors that wracked his body.

Judith leaned close to his shoulder, peering at the tattoo. First she prodded it with her fingers, then she brought out a strange-looking black stone filled with glints like stars. She held it up to the tattoo, and many of the stars blinked red.

Sorrel had to sit on a bench across the room. Judith said that Sorrel's molecular resonance would foul the readings. So Max gazed at her from a distance, wishing she wasn't so far away. Judith may be Sorrel's grandmother, but she was an old Reefborn, cold and logical as a crocodile. Her masked face gave him the creeps. Like Fikrul, the Techeuns seemed to prefer to hide their eyes, removing their humanity. Max had to tell himself that this strange woman was going to help him in order to sit there on the frigid chair. His only consolation was that he wasn't tied down.

Zero stayed hidden in phase, but Max felt her as a constant presence in his mind. She was watching everything, sorrowing and anxious, keeping quiet to avoid distracting Judith. Max formed a picture in his mind of himself lifting Zero out of the air and cuddling her. She reacted with a burst of grief, responding with an image of his crippled arms.

"Please cease the telepathy," Judith said. "It's interfering with the readings."

Zero cowered down to a tiny dot in his mind. Max forced his mind to go blank. However, he could only keep it blank for a few seconds before he glanced at the tattoos and panic washed through him. Would the tech witch want to chop his arms off? Did she have a laser that could burn away skin and ether together? He looked at his hands and wondered if his fingerprints would change if Zero had to regenerate his arms.

Judith's head jerked up and she glared at Sorrel, across the room. "Stop that."

Sorrel cringed and looked down.

Judith moved around Max to study his other arm. Max waited, watching the specks of light in her artifact flash from blue to red as she moved it around his arm.

"Is it terminal, doctor?" he asked.

A faint smile touched Judith's lips. "You are providing valuable data that will further our research by twenty years. I would love to study you for the next six months."

"Six months?" Max said. "I can't stay here that long. I'd get fired."

"The Vanguard does not fire Guardians," Judith replied.

"I'm not with the Vanguard," Max replied. "I answer to the Iron Lords, and I work as a detective with City Police."

Judith's lips quirked. "A Guardian with a fractional amount of brain? My my. What's the solar system coming to?"

Max lifted one shoulder. "Just tell me the worst. Amputation?"

Judith stepped back, running her fingers over her device, lips pressed together. After a long moment, she said, "I have two theories. Amputation is the first. However, the second may be more palatable."

Max swallowed and nodded. "Yes?"

"A simple test of Light versus Darkness," Judith replied. "There must be balance in all things. Your Light is not strong enough to overcome this Darkness from the inside. However, another Guardian's would be."

"Me?" Sorrel said, jumping to her feet. "Do you mean me?"

"I mean your good-for-nothing father," Judith said, turning to her. "He may be a scoundrel, but he is also a highly trained Sunbreaker. His Light is far stronger than either of yours. He may be able to overcome these wisps of dark ether." She turned back to Max. "Even with the tattoos removed, the Light flow to your hands may never be the same. However, you seem to have begun directing the flow through your feet. As a blind man finds his other senses sharpened, so you may find that the Light you cast with your feet is double the strength of what you did with your hands."

Max nodded. "Will I be able to use my hands again? They're just numb right now."

Judith gave a small shrug. "That, too, remains to be seen. My hypothesis at this time is yes. But it must be tested." She lifted her head, as if listening. Then she turned on Sorrel. "I told you to stop that!"

"Stop _what_?" Sorrel exclaimed. "I'm standing way over here!"

"Your desire," Judith said. "It permitted the Queen's Techeuns to be Taken. Your longing for him is a pressure in my ears. Should Riven peer into this reality, she would feast upon you."

Sorrel's shoulders slumped. Her gaze met Max's, embarrassed. Despite his chill, a little warmth crept into Max's cheeks. She desired him so strongly that it irritated a Techeun? If only he could cross the room and put his arms around her.

Judith produced a black sphere the size of a marble. "Give this to Atkin. It explains what I need him to do. Have your Ghosts take measurements of the process. Their readings are nearly as accurate as my own."

"You're not coming?" Max asked.

"No," Judith said. "I told Atkin at our last meeting that if I ever see his face again, I will disperse his atoms across six dimensions."

Max stifled a laugh. Judith looked at him sharply, but said nothing. She gestured for him to leave, placing the tiny artifact on the bench beside him. Sorrel hurried forward and picked it up.

As Max had Zero transmat his undershirt and tunic back on, Judith paused to study Sorrel. "You have raw talent, granddaughter. Should you ever wish to train in the rites of a Techeun, come to me."

"Thanks," Sorrel said faintly. She and Max watched until Judith had left the room, seeming to flow along in her robes.

Max said, "Your grandma is scary."

"Tell me about it," Sorrel muttered. "Come on, let's show this to Dad."

As they left the tower, Max said, "So … I guess you like me, now?"

Sorrel didn't look at him. "I've always liked you, Max."

He grinned. "You like me enough to upset a Techeun."

"The Awoken are weird," Sorrel said shortly. "Let's worry about what Dad has to do to you. I'm so scared you won't survive."

"Sure, I'll survive," Max replied. "But my arms might not."

He spoke lightly to disguise the fear that had begun to make his stomach shrivel beneath his ribs. Anything was better than poison tattoos, right? Would he be able to face whatever a Sunbreaker would have to do? Complete immolation, most likely. He'd burn at the stake like the victims of ancient inquisitions. The fact that Zero hung in terrified silence in his head didn't help. He'd probably guessed right, and she knew it. They'd better not try to burn her, too, or he'd try to blow something up with his feet again. Probably Judith.

They transmatted back aboard the Sunhawk. Tony stood in the open area behind the cockpit, a drink in hand, waiting for them. "Well, how'd it go?"

Sorrel passed him the artifact and explained about the balance of Dark and Light. Tony listened without comment. He rolled the artifact over with his thumb, working the controls with casual skill. A hologram appeared with a lot of abstract circles and lines, all slowly revolving across each other. Tony studied it for a moment, then switched off the artifact and drained his drink. "Well. Simple, but not easy. You two catch all that?"

Max and Sorrel looked at him blankly.

Tony chuckled. "Guess you can't read the tech language. She recommends that I use my hammer to burn out the tattoos. Like laser surgery with Light."

Max's back began to sweat, despite his eternal chill. He'd felt the incredible heat rolling off the Sunbreaker, seen that hammer of Sol go crashing straight through the bodies of enemies. And that deadly weapon would be used on him.

"It's better than total immolation," he said with a weak laugh.

Tony glanced around the interior of his ship. "We'd better do this outdoors because of the smell and smoke. Sorrel, you should stay here. It won't be pretty."

"He's my friend," Sorrel said. "It can't be any worse than watching an Aphelion thrall murder people."

Tony shrugged. "If you think you can handle it. Max, take off your shirt and armor. No point in catching it on fire."

Max had Zero store it again, his mouth suddenly too dry for speech. The tattoos were rings of spiky blackness around his upper arms. In a few minutes, if all went well, they'd be gone. But those few minutes would be pure agony.

They transmatted outside, just beyond the Sunhawk's shadow. The wind wasn't so strong here, but it was still breezy and too chilly for Max's tastes.

"Stretch out on the ground," Tony said. "You'll probably pass out, and the sooner, the better. This will save you the trip down."

Max obeyed, beginning to feel light-headed with panic. He wanted to run away and hide, not quietly submit to having his flesh burned off. But this was the only way to save his arms.

Tony held up a hand and summoned his fiery hammer. It appeared in an orange flash, molten metal and Light. Without waiting for Max to brace himself, Tony touched the hammerhead to the tattoo.

It was so hot, the metal felt cold. For a fraction of a second, Max was confused. Then the skin sizzled and he screamed.

He lasted nearly two whole minutes before he fainted. In that time, Tony carefully burned away the tattoo all the way around Max's left arm. The dark ether had worked in deep, like a cancer, and Tony had to chase it all the way to the muscle to clean it out.

Max never felt the operation on his right arm. When he awoke a little later, he was lying on the floor in the Sunhawk again, and Zero was pulsing healing Light into him. Sorrel sat nearby, leaning against the bulkhead, her blue skin now tinged with green. Tony was pouring himself another drink.

Max's arms felt almost normal again. He lifted his hands and flexed them, then touched his own face. Sensation had returned. The bitter cold had gone. He rested his head on the floor in relief, and basked in Zero's healing. The echoes of his own screams lingered in his mind, like bits of a nightmare he'd thankfully awakened from.

"Was it bad?" he thought to Zero.

"Yes," she replied. "But it's over. I'm not detecting any more Darkness on you."

Max sat up and rubbed his hands. They were stiff, but they worked again. The places where the tattoos had been were now branded with the patterns from Tony's Hammer of Sol. The scars were oddly decorative, standing out red against his fair skin.

"Can you use your Light?" Tony asked.

Max tried to summon his Golden Gun. His Light seemed to hiccup inside him, flowing one way, then the other. The glowing outline of his gun appeared in his hand, then vanished. He tried it again, with the same results. His Light evaded him and swirled into his feet instead, making them tingle. But he couldn't summon a gun with his feet.

Max had had the bad luck to become a Guardian while the Traveler had been caged in the Red War. Sure, it had been fun to have Zero in his mind, and she'd been able to heal him a few times. But he hadn't been able to use Light to access superpowers, and he'd suffered deep disappointment for a long while. He'd traded his autonomy for immortality, and received almost no benefit.

Now, it seemed he'd returned to that state of crushing disappointment. His powers had been ruined, even though the corruption had been purged. He'd spent hours practicing with his Golden Gun and fire knives up at the Iron Temple, guided by Lord Saladin. And it had all been for nothing, taken from him by a single alien witch doctor as an experiment. He was back to being nearly-human, a substandard Guardian who couldn't compete with his fellow Hunters. Assuming he still had a job when he went home, he'd have a hard time explaining to the police chief why he no longer had Light as a backup. This must be how Jayesh had felt when he'd come home from the Reef with his Light missing.

"Well," he said, looking at Sorrel, "I can still use guns, right? Guardians don't really need Light powers to fight."

"Oh Max!" Sorrel rushed to him, threw herself on the floor and embraced him, burying her face against his neck. "I'm so sorry!"

Max hadn't put his tunic back on yet, and Sorrel was warm, even with the metal parts of her armor digging into his skin. He wrapped his arms around her, thankful for the ability to do that much, and stroked her curly hair. She was trembling, crying without making a sound, probably trying to hide it from Tony, who stood by, watching.

"Shh," Max whispered. "It's all right, Sorrel. I can cope." She had feelings for him, didn't she? Max held her a little tighter, his disappointment in his broken powers replaced by a deep satisfaction. He'd spent so long hoping she'd grow to care for him as he cared for her, and now it seemed she did. She hadn't admitted it yet, but surely she'd figure it out. He'd have to be patient a little longer.

Tony coughed loudly, startling them. "When you two are finished, I'll haul you back to the Shore. I've got some other business to attend to."

Sorrel sat back on her heels, wiping her eyes. "Better get dressed," she murmured. "Are you still cold?"

Max summoned his clothes from Zero with a thought, and she transmatted his shirt and vest back on. Then he rubbed his arms and hands. "I don't feel warm, but I don't feel cold, either. I'm just normal."

Sorrel touched the clasp of her cloak. "Do you want to borrow this again?"

"No, keep it," Max said. How badly he wanted to reach out and stroke her cheek right now, wipe away those tears that had wet her eyelashes. "I have more gear on my ship."

They rose to their feet, and Sorrel caught his hands in both of hers. They stood close together, gazing into each other's eyes. By Felwinter's Light, she was beautiful. He just wanted to hold her close and never let go.

"I'll be your Light," she whispered. "I'll learn all three disciplines and use Light whenever you need it."

This sent a twist of anguish through him that he didn't want to feel just then. _Crippled. Disabled_. The words ate through him like a bullet of molten fire. He leaned his forehead against Sorrel's. "Thanks," he whispered. He wanted to say more, but a lump appeared in his throat and choked off his voice.

Sorrel's lips brushed his in the lightest of kisses. He blinked in surprise, but she wheeled away from him and went to strap into the copilot's seat. Max drifted to the seat behind hers, savoring that feather-soft touch. She had actually kissed him. No asking permission, no dancing around her old fears - just sweet, unfiltered affection.

Because he was crippled.

Max sat down and strapped in, trying to push away this thought. His hands worked just fine now, fastening the buckles the way he wanted. He'd probably be able to fire Crimson and his rifle with his old accuracy. Really, the only thing that reminded him of his disability were the twin brands around his upper arms, neither of which had any feeling anymore. Nobody could tell by looking at him that anything was wrong. He'd never been as reliant on his Light as Jayesh had. He could get by without it.

Yet, as the Sunhawk left the asteroid and turned its nose toward the Tangled Shore, Max still felt abandoned and disappointed. "Zero," he thought, "will you still love me, even if my Light doesn't work right anymore?"

"I loved you before you were mine, dear Guardian," she replied in his mind. "Nothing will ever change that. I've seen you overcome sickness, and weakness, and injury. You can overcome this, too."

He held out a hand, inviting her out of phase. Zero appeared above his hand, her blue eye fixed on him with a tender expression. He gently lifted her out of the air and hugged her, the way he'd wanted to while the Techeun had been working on him. He held her for a long while, stroking her smooth shell.

"I don't know if I can overcome this," he thought. "When I rerouted my Light, it stayed that way. I can't put it back."

"But it's not gone," Zero replied. "Light can manifest from any part of you. I think you can use your feet. You'll just have to be a little more creative."

"Also …" Max hesitated even to think it, but Zero might as well know. "I think … I don't want to use fire anymore. Whenever I think about my Golden Gun, I remember how my skin felt as it burned. And I … I think I need to switch disciplines."

"I can help you with that," Zero replied. "I understand, really. Would you like to use Arc Light?"

"Lightning," Max thought. Crackling, unpredictable, painful. And it burned. His whole being cringed away from it. "No, no more burning."

"Void, then?"

Void Light was cool, the subtle power of the moon and stars, the friendly kind of darkness that brought rest and concealment. But it didn't mesh with Max's personality. He tried to fit himself into the mentality that Void required, but found himself growing irritated. Hiding seemed cowardly. He preferred a clean fight, face to face with a foe. It was why his Light had first manifested as fire.

"I don't know, Zero. I don't like any of them."

He felt Zero's sadness, like a heavy sigh in his mind. Neither of them spoke for a while. Max gazed at the back of Sorrel's chair and felt that he was letting her down.

Then Zero said, "The Iron Lords had more than three disciplines."

This fact was like a flash of light in Max's head. He'd studied the Iron Lords as part of his training. Back when the Traveler first sent out the Ghosts, there had been no Guardians - only the Risen. They had used Light in any way that suited them, often for evil ends. The Iron Lords had established law and order, but even they had few restraints on their Light. The disciplines they had pioneered were still used by modern Guardians, but there had been many fantastic things they had shaped that had fallen out of popularity.

"Zero," Max thought, "all matter is energy, right? And all energy is matter."

"Roughly," Zero replied. "What are you getting at?"

Max let her float back into the air so he could look into her eye. "Heat is only the action of atoms, right? The faster they move, the greater the temperature. So … what if we slowed them down? It would still be energy."

Picture-thoughts flashed between them faster than words: questions, answers, refinements, approval.

"But not on the ship," Zero concluded. "Outside. Far from anything we don't want to destroy."

"Right," Max thought. "I think that's what I did to Fikrul when I exploded the ground under his feet. I set up an extreme temperature differential."

"I think so," Zero replied. "I knew you could overcome this, Max. If we can make this work, you'll be the only Guardian with these powers in the whole universe."

He grinned and bumped his forehead into her shell. "Only with your help, little girl Ghost."


	14. Mark of the Spider

Ravicks the Butcher opened his eyes.

The breath expanding his lungs was heavy with dark ether. The wounds that Lanceborn and his companions had inflicted had been healed, stitched together by more ether. It bubbled across his skin, replacing his blood with darkness, with strength, with power.

He lifted his head and pushed himself to his feet with his four arms. No longer broken, his limbs felt as if they'd been replaced by iron and steel.

Nearby, Fikrul said, "I warned you, Ravicks, that the dark ether would take its toll."

"A toll I was willing to pay," hissed Ravicks. He held up one hand and flexed it, feeling the muscles tense beneath his shredded armor. "Lanceborn was stronger than I expected. But now I am his superior. He will not stand before me again."

Fikrul shook his staff at him. "Beware of hubris, fool. I, too, thought the Scorn to be the match of any Guardian. And yet we were slaughtered."

"I am none of your pathetic Scorn Barons," Ravicks sneered. "I am Ravicks, Eater of Hearts, future Kell of the House of Dusk. Dark ether only makes me stronger."

Fikrul studied him from behind his chieftain's helmet. "You will know the meaning of suffering. Go forth and inflict pain upon the Awoken people, as my father wished."

Ravicks grinned, baring his teeth to the roots. Then he stalked out, searching for his Dregs. His first trap had succeeded. Lanceborn had shown weakness, and Ravicks knew how to draw him out a second time.

* * *

Tony dropped Sorrel and Max off near Sunset Camp, where Max's ship was still docked. They transmatted to the ground, and the Sunhawk flew off with a backwash of wind from its engines.

"Man, I can't wait to get back on my own ship," Max remarked as they walked toward it. "I know it's cramped, but I want my stuff. And a shower. And more clothes."

"Same here," Sorrel said. "I just want to rest for a while. I feel like my brain's a wrung-out sponge. And then -" She halted, holding out an arm to stop Max. "Uh oh. Look at the doors."

The airlock doors on the side of Max's jumpship had been painted with a huge, untidy Fallen house logo. House of the Spider. Beneath it, something had been nailed to the ship's fuselage. They approached it cautiously.

The head of a Scorn Stalker swung back and forth in the wind, hanging on a wire hook. It still dripped fluids, the four eyes lifeless, the jaw hanging open.

Max and Sorrel stared at it for a long moment. Then Max walked up, wrenched the wire from the nail in the metal, and threw the head as far as he could. He reached up and ran a hand across the Spider logo, but the paint was long dry.

"Let me go inside first," he said, drawing Crimson. "Just in case they left a welcoming committee."

"You're hurt," Sorrel said, summoning her scout rifle. "Let me go first."

"My ship," Max said, "my problem. It'll just take a minute." He transmatted inside.

Sorrel waited, the wind trying to wrap her cloak around her knees, gripping her rifle and listening for the bark of the hand cannon. Could Max use weapons with his arms torn up? He hadn't tried them out since the tattoos had been removed, and he still wanted to behave like a cop, not allowing for what had happened. It sent a surge of mingled frustration and admiration through her.

A moment later, Max reappeared in a transmat sparkle. "The inside hasn't been touched. I think Spider was just sending a message. Come on."

Sorrel transmatted inside this time, following Max. Everything in the ship was exactly as they'd left it. Their Ghosts emerged and flew around, hunting for any signs of invasion that their Guardians had missed, but there was nothing. The ship was a lot smaller than the Sunhawk, but it was familiar, and also cleaner.

Sorrel sat on the edge of the copilot's seat, resting her rifle in her lap. "Spider hasn't forgotten that we're supposed to be doing his bidding, dragging in Dad."

Max holstered Crimson and dug through the cabinet containing food. "He's still holding my career over my head, too. I need to call up Lord Dasa and have a chat. He'd probably like to know about Ravicks."

"And about what Fikrul did to you," Sorrel said. "If he did it once, he could do it again to somebody else. Another Guardian might not get away with only their arms damaged."

Max opened a package of toffee. "Yeah, I was lucky. Want some?"

Sorrel accepted a piece. "How can you eat after just throwing a Scorn head?"

"I'm not going to be intimidated by a crook," Max said. "That was a scare tactic. I've seen it used in the City. Toe the line, or you're next. Well, guess what? Spider made a mistake, trying to pin me down." He crunched his candy fiercely and went back for more.

"So, what's our next move?" Sorrel asked, looking at her toffee without eating it.

Max grinned. "You're going to interview the rest of the people who your dad appears to have pirated. I'm going to sit outside and relearn my Light."

Sorrel straightened. "Can you?"

"Sure," Max said. "I can send it through my feet just fine. I just need to learn to control it."

Sorrel nodded, watching him deftly picking through the toffee for the choicest piece. His hands worked perfectly now … but they couldn't summon Light. She opened her own hand and drew a wisp of blue sparkles to her fingertips with a thought.

"Max," she said softly.

He looked up inquiringly.

"You've taught me more about being a Guardian than Dad has."

He grinned and looked down, embarrassed. "I don't see how. I couldn't even burn off my own tattoos."

"You've never given up," Sorrel said. "Dad ditched Mom and me, even if he regretted it. He gave us up. He gave up on the Vanguard. Guardians are supposed to protect the Traveler, right? But he hasn't been back to Earth in years."

Max shrugged. "His choice."

"You haven't given up," Sorrel said softly. "Even with your arms screwed up, you're still set to relearn your Light. And ... even when I … I left. You could have found someone else."

Max lifted his head and gazed at her, his eyes very blue. Something in her voice told him that this was no flippant remark. He set aside his snack and opened his arms. "Come here."

Sorrel laid her rifle aside and went to him. They wrapped their arms around each other, and Sorrel rested her head on his shoulder. He was warm again, no more of the deadly chill in his arms. And yet he no longer had the extra warmth that radiated from his Solar Light. His aura had dimmed to the faint glow of basic Light, like cool sky reflected through a north-facing window.

He stroked her hair and sighed against her neck. "You're too good to me," he murmured. "What you see as perseverance, I see as bull-headed stubbornness."

"But that's what makes a Guardian," she replied. "Hope. When you had cancer, you didn't give up. I'd assumed you died, but you fought it to the last. Then in the Red War -"

"Zero was the persistent one, not me," Max said with a smile, pulling back to study her face. "But I know what you mean about hope." His eyes took on a faraway look. "We have to hope for a better future. When I bonded with Zero, I had to learn hope - and faith - that the Light wouldn't let me down. And … really, I haven't been the greatest vessel for it. But it's always been there for me, even when all I have is Zero."

Sorrel reached up and ran her fingers through his blond hair. It was thick and soft. "That's what I never understood. I thought Guardians were just murder machines. Or undead slaves. I didn't realize that … they're soldiers because they have hope. Seeing the difference between you and Dad … it's made me see what being a Guardian truly is."

Max closed his eyes, enjoying her touch. "Mm, don't stop."

"Enjoying this?" she said, ruffling his hair, instead. "You need a haircut."

"I know, I know," Max replied, opening his eyes and grinning. "And a shave, before my beard colonizes the rest of my face." He sobered and cupped her scarred cheek in his palm. "But seriously … I'm glad this trip has helped you so much. I don't feel like I've been a great example of what a Guardian is. A stupid Scorn screwed up my Light and I couldn't stop him. And I'm in legal trouble for doing a favor for a crime lord. Fellwinter's wolves, I've been dumb. Now I have a lot of work ahead of me, digging out of this hole I'm in."

"You're not dumb," Sorrel said, and kissed him.

It was a good kiss, on the lips, long and sensual. Max's arms slipped around her waist and pulled her tight against him. Sorrel let herself relax, one arm around his shoulders, the other holding the back of his head. Here was that impulse again - to express her affection for this kind, forthright man. But she wasn't holding back this time - not after seeing him in agony as the tattoos burned off, and then seeing him faint. It had broken some kind of resistance inside her. She was going to kiss him right now.

A little later, when they came up for air, Max said, "Are you trying to tell me something?"

"I love you," Sorrel said recklessly, feeling as if she were hurling herself into space. "I can't stand seeing you hurt any more."

His arms tightened and he made a half-laughing, half-whimpering sound. "Not like I planned it."

As she kissed him again, Sorrel chased her own thoughts in circles. This was more than friendship - Judith called it desire - the memory of Max screaming and suddenly falling silent, open eyes staring at the sky as the burning hammer seared away his flesh. And now, here he was, in her arms, and she could feel that his Light had changed. His fire was gone. She wanted to wrap herself around him like a blanket and heal all his hurts, shelter him from any more awful injuries. But that was impossible … unless she committed to spend the rest of her life with him.

Several long kisses later, Max breathed, "What do we do now? We can't stay just friends."

"I suppose we could get married," Sorrel said, nuzzling his beard. "Seems logical."

He pulled away and studied her, happiness shining in his eyes. "Are you sure? This time yesterday, you were terrified of any relationship at all."

"This time yesterday, you hadn't been poisoned with dark ether," Sorrel replied. "Then I had to watch Dad burn the tattoos off you. When you passed out, it looked like you died. It made me realize … I could lose you. And I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you, either," Max said. "Giving you up for two years was like having my heart torn out. You know, the night you left, I tried to drink myself to death?"

"Max!" Sorrel exclaimed. "You never told me that!"

He nodded. "I didn't want you to know. But that's how miserable I was."

She stroked his face, which was rough with stubble, returning to his beard, which was soft. "I missed you for two years. Vox said that I would scream for you inside my head sometimes, when the Fallen jumped me and I was alone."

He hugged her tightly and growled a little. "I wish I'd been there. I should have come after you."

"I kind of wish you had," Sorrel murmured. "I thought I needed space, but it didn't help, in the end."

Max held her in silence for a moment, his breathing rocking her a little. Finally he said, "Much as I'd love to run home and make things official right now, we have business to take care of. Clear your dad. Clear me. Relearn my Light. If I lose my jobs and get exiled, it'll be back to the Iron Temple for me, and that wouldn't be so great for you."

Sorrel kissed him one last time and let him go. "I may change my mind, too. I'm kind of nervous." As much as she hated to admit it, her insides were crawling with terror the more she realized what she'd just said and done. She'd just promised to commit to this man - wouldn't that change everything? Would their friendship go away? Wouldn't he just leave her the way her father left her mother?

"It's all right," Max said quietly. "Nothing's set in stone. We don't have to get married now … but … can we keep it on the table? For down the road?"

Hearing him say the words was a relief. Sorrel nodded. "Definitely down the road."

* * *

Hidden in phase, both their Ghosts were screaming.

"Sorrel _proposed_!" Vox shrieked. "My big girl's all grown up! I'm so proud of her!"

"Max will be so happy!" Zero cried, flying around and around both Guardians. "Ohh, I've waited for this for so long!"

Both Ghosts flew invisible loops around their kissing Guardians, cheering and beeping on the private frequency only Ghosts used. They flew around each other, dancing with pure joy.

Then Sorrel began backpedaling, and both Ghosts grew quiet, listening.

"Doesn't she love him, then?" Zero asked.

Vox made a beep like a sigh. "She does. But she's so afraid. I don't know which will win out, honestly. She might string Max along for years."

"Not years!" Zero exclaimed. "She doesn't understand how badly Max needs her. He barely talks about it with me, but I feel how lonely he is. I'm just a Ghost. I can only do so much."

"Same here," said Vox. "Oh Sorrel, don't do this to him. Make up your mind and stick to it."

The Ghosts watched in growing disappointment as the moment ended, and their Guardians returned to mundane activities before heading out on their next mission. The Ghosts drifted around the ship, invisible, wishing for further developments, but none were forthcoming. When Max emerged from his shower, Sorrel greeted him quite coolly, then took one, herself.

"You know," Vox said, "I've read that these sort of relationship mood swings are pretty common. That's why it's important to be friends before becoming lovers."

"I hope so," Zero said. "Because right now, I'm thinking it'll take a miracle to get them together."

"Or a disaster," Vox said.

"No more disasters," Zero said with a shudder. "I'm not recovered from the last one."

* * *

They flew to the next town on Spider's list. Like the first one, it was underground, a whole town of Awoken and their families. Sorrel had trouble finding the village matron at first, but once she did, they had a long, colorful conversation about pirate raids. Tony Atkin had behaved similarly during that raid, as well - killing no one, and disappearing with a crashed pirate ship behind him.

Then Sorrel let slip that she was considering marriage to a human. The matron launched into a twenty-minute diatribe about mixed-race marriages and how it muddied the Awoken bloodline. By the time Sorrel escaped, she felt like she'd been beaten over the head with a club. She was also afraid to even look Max in the face. How had it never dawned on her that such prejudice existed between their races? Max had even asked her about it, and she had brushed him off. Marrying him would have far-reaching consequences she had never even considered.

Deep in gloomy thoughts, she walked back to where they had docked the ship. Max sat on a rock a short distance away, his cloak rippling in the wind. His back was toward Sorrel, and he sat still, as motionless as the stone beneath him.

Sorrel stood and watched him for a while. If he was practicing his powers, he wasn't doing much. Maybe he was meditating. She dithered about disturbing him, or just returning to the ship. The matron's words echoed in her head. "Never accept a human in a relationship. They're an inferior race, short-lived and devoid of the perfection of the Awoken. Your children will be hybrids, neither one nor the other, condemned to a twilight life."

By the Traveler, she hadn't thought about having children with Max, and now it was something she had to seriously consider. Could Guardians have children? Jayesh and Kari had managed, somehow, but they were the exception, not the rule. The whole question made her want to shriek in terror and run far away. But … she had left Max once. And it hadn't done any good. All it had done was make her pine for him worse than before. Was it right to feel this way about a human? Was it wrong to even let race enter into the equation? Why had she let that matron plant such ideas in her head? The Reefborn were well-known for their prejudice, even for their cousins, the Earthborn.

Sorrel sat on the housing of the ship's forward landing gear and thought, "Vox, any advice?"

"Yes," her Ghost said in her head. "Ignore that old hag. She must have thought you were Reefborn, because she talked to you like one. The Earthborn are free from the Reef social expectations. You can marry whoever you want. Remember that guy who came in the store all the time? Durn? He was a halfbreed, and nice as you please."

Sorrel did remember Durn. He'd had grayish skin and faintly glowing orange eyes. She'd thought he was just another Awoken, handsome in their otherworldly way. He certainly hadn't looked corrupted and whatever else the matron had said. Having children meant the possibility of a family, and a legacy, to carry forward her and Max's bloodline. As Guardians, they would see generations of their own family spread and spread. It was exciting, humbling, and frightening.

As she sat there, thinking and watching Max, he tapped one foot. The ground darkened around it, as if it had suddenly grown wet. He tapped it again, and more of the discoloration spread outward, further and further. Then Max leaped to his feet and stamped both.

A ripple of white raced across the ground and exploded into jagged ice crystals twenty feet away. Max paced forward, then made two dancing sideways half-steps. The crystals lurched the same direction, hit the ground and shattered into slivers as sharp as glass.

"By the Traveler's crack!" Sorrel swore.

Max heard her and looked over his shoulder with a grin. "You like it?"

"Like it?" Sorrel was afraid to leave the ship's shadow. "What kind of crazy power are you using? No discipline makes ice!"

"It's actually not that different from Solar Light," Max said. "I've just slowed it down." He faced the crystals again, drew a deep breath, and jogged in place. More ice spread outward from his feet, creating multiple paths across the dusty ground that converged and became an ice stalagmite that grew until it was twenty feet tall.

"Doesn't ice need water?" Sorrel asked.

"It's paracausal power," Max panted. "Effect before cause. It needs water, but there is no water, so it creates the water I would have needed."

Sorrel watched him shatter the stalagmite, then create a series of smaller ones. Every so often he stopped to consult Zero, who hung at his shoulder, giving advice.

Her fears seemed stupid and baseless, now that she was back in Max's presence. Who cared what race he was? He was using Light to weaponize ice. He was overcoming his crippled hands. She was so proud of him, she thought she might burst with it. She clasped her hands and watched and watched, cheering each time he did something new.

The last thing he did was to approach a small boulder and set his foot on it. The boulder frosted over. Max stood there for a long moment, as if thinking. Sorrel waited, wondering what he intended to do, holding her breath.

Then Max spun and kicked the rock with all his strength.

The rock shattered like glass. Pebbles plinked off the ship, and Sorrel shielded her face. A dust cloud enveloped Max for a moment, quickly carried away by the wind. When it vanished, he walked back to Sorrel, grinning and dusty. "Did you _see_ that? That was _amazing_!"

Sorrel jumped up and hugged him. "Max, that was the most incredible thing I've ever seen! How did you learn that?"

He hugged her back, then stepped back, still breathing hard. "Zero and I studied the Iron Lords when I was training. They used all kinds of weird powers that nobody uses today. One of them was ice. The hardest part was figuring out how to make it work." He paused and studied her. "How did your interview go?"

Sorrel told him as they boarded the ship. Max grabbed a water bottle and drained it as he listened.

"I'm willing to bet that Dad's innocent, like he said," Sorrel concluded. "Three more towns to go, and it's probably the same story."

"Gotta have that eyewitness testimony," Max said. "After you left, I put a call through to Lord Dasa."

Sorrel straightened. "You did? What happened?"

Max studied the water bottle. "First, he wanted updates on Ravicks. He wasn't happy when I told him Ravicks was probably a Scorn now. I told him about Spider's manipulation, how he was threatening me. Dasa blew it off and said he'd vouch for me however I needed. Then we talked about Tony for a bit. He was relieved that Tony seems to be on the up and up these days. He said I'd put his mind at ease about a lot of things."

"Good," Sorrel said fiercely. "The less power Spider has, the better. I'm not going to be enslaved to any Eliksni crime lord."

"Me neither," Max said. "Come on, let's head to the next town."

It was a short flight to the next settlement. It was on the torus planetoid that the Dasa compound occupied, but hundreds of miles away, nearly on the other side of the wheel.

The town had rings of spiked fences around it. It looked like the town had grown over the years, which necessitated new layers of fence around each new section. Farmland spread out around the town, green with crops or brown with plowed fields. The roads and houses were well-kept, built of salvage in visually appealing ways.

But when Sorrel entered to speak to the town council, she might as well have walked into a hornet's nest. She was greeted by angry stares and stubborn silence that exploded into shouts and accusations.

Ravicks the Butcher had attacked them the night before. Unlike most Fallen or Scorn, which hunted children and the elderly, Ravicks had attacked the town guards head on. He'd torn the hearts out of two of them and badly maimed a third before the town's artillery drove him off.

But what had the town council the most angry was that Ravicks had spoken to the guard he'd left alive. "If you can call it alive, with both legs missing below the knee," snarled the town satrap. "He said that he wanted Lanceborn and his two lackey Guardians. Are you one of the lackeys? Because if so, you have a lot to answer for!"

Nobody would answer her questions about Tony. They were too angry about the recent attack. They ranted about Ravicks's incarceration in the Prison of Elders, when he should have been executed. Then they complained about Tony's part in his capture, as if the mass jailbreak had been his fault.

It took Sorrel hours to escape. She only accomplished it by cloaking herself in Void Light and slipping out a window.

The sun was setting by the time she returned to the ship, and Max was anxiously looking out for her. Sorrel threw herself into the copilot's seat and told him what had happened as they lifted off.

"Ravicks is setting us up, Max. He's murdering people and name dropping Dad. He doesn't know us or he'd be naming us, too. Those Awoken were ready to tear me apart, thinking I'd sent him after them somehow."

"This is bad," said Max, digging his fingers into his hair and pulling it. "How did Ravicks know to hit the next town on our list? Spider wouldn't tell him."

"Maybe he's studied Dad," Sorrel said. "So he's attacking places where people don't like Dad much to sully his name further."

"He did download that database information at the space station," Max said. "Ravicks is smart. He may have collected information around the Shore. The Fallen probably know the dates and locations of every speck of salvage around here. They'd notice ruined pirate ships."

Max changed course, the ship wheeling away from the torus. "We'd better head straight for town number four, see if we can beat Ravicks there. They deserve a warning."

They flew in worried silence for a while as Max navigated the maze of asteroids and derelict ship hulks that made up the Reef. Sorrel knotted her fingers in her lap. She really ought to discuss the whole Awoken versus Human thing that the matron of the last village had brought up … but at the same time, she never wanted to speak of it or think about it again. So many things to talk about with Max … and circumstances kept getting in the way. Or maybe she was letting her own fears build a wall between them. It had never been this way before.

Max banked and orbited an asteroid with the front section of an old colony ship protruding from one end. "Here's the next town, Signal Point. You have to transmat down to the dock because they won't give me clearance to land." He gestured at his screen, which displayed a fierce-looking message in red text.

Sorrel unstrapped her harness. "I'll head down and have Vox keep you posted. Hopefully this doesn't take as long as last time."

"Be careful," Max said, touching her shoulder. "I don't like any of this."

Sorrel ran her fingers through his hair, then kissed his forehead before pulling on her helmet. "Don't worry about me. Just be ready to make a fast getaway if they break out the torches and pitchforks."

"They're Awoken," Max said dryly. "It'll be way more destructive than pitchforks."

Sorrel drew a deep breath and transmatted down to the ship dock on the asteroid.

The dock was composed of salvaged crossbeams welded together or held in place by cables or chains. Each dock extended out half a mile into space, one above the other. The colony ship section acted as the gateway into the asteroid. Airlock doors were cut into each of the three hab spheres, which were the size of warehouses.

But there were no guards, no ships at the docks, no sign of life. Sorrel made her way along the uneven surface, moving carefully in the weaker gravity. "Vox, where is everybody?"

"Scans show life signs inside the hab spheres," Vox replied in her head. "But there's no one on the docks. It's a little spooky out here."

Spooky was the right word. Because a faint atmosphere surrounded the asteroid, Sorrel was able to hear the metal creaking under her feet, or a cable singing from the strain of centrifugal force as the asteroid rotated. Max's ship caught the sunlight on its wings for a moment as he soared into orbit, waiting. She gazed out at that tiny piece of metal and her heart caught in her chest. He was so far away, and she was alone. She watched until it circled out of sight behind the asteroid.

Steeling her nerve, Sorrel made her way to the first airlock door and looked for the controls. They were set into the wall a few feet away, but the tiny screen blinked, "Computer offline."

A sense of stinking, nauseating Darkness struck Sorrel so hard that she gagged. Vox cried in her head, "Ravicks is here! It's a trap!"

Sorrel spun around, drawing her rifle, keeping her back to the door. Ravicks was nowhere in sight, but his Dregs were crawling up through the dock itself, wiggling between the beams. She fired at them, killing the two nearest her.

"Vox, I need a lock on Ravicks!"

Sorrel sensed the location of his Darkness aura. He was high up, on another level of the docks, and moving swiftly in her direction. His dot appeared as a flag on her HUD.

"I'm trying to contact the Awoken on the other side of this door," Vox said, her voice sounding strained. "They're hiding behind their defenses. Max is coming back, but he's on the other side of the asteroid and won't be here for another ten minutes."

"I can last ten minutes," Sorrel growled, shooting another Dreg through the eye. She glanced at the dock far above her head and saw the outline of Ravicks's huge form as it passed over her. He was headed for a spot further down, where his dock overlapped hers, giving him an easy jump.

Three Dregs slid down the rounded sides of the hab sphere, landing nearly on top of Sorrel. They slashed at her with arc daggers. Sorrel danced backward and summoned her Void sword. It manifested as a long purple blade, the hilt design still hazy, as she hadn't fully visualized it yet. She slashed it through the nearest Dreg with a thought. The next two Dregs fell as Sorrel made a chopping motion with her free hand. She whirled back to face the others, only to have one Dreg crash into her, trying to knock her down. Sorrel staggered and ran him through with her blade, the burning purple surface two inches from her helmet. She wheeled on the rest of the Dregs, but they were cowering backward, dashing for cover behind support beams and stacked crates.

Ravicks was coming, a towering figure robed in Darkness. He paced slowly toward Sorrel, unhurried, like a leopard approaching wounded prey. His aura snuffed out her Void blade like a pathetic candle.

"Max!" Sorrel cried. "I could really use a pickup right about now!" She raised her rifle and fired at Ravicks. The bullets sparked off his arc shield, which blazed into sight in crackling blue.

"Sorrel, I'm in trouble!" Max answered, his transmission full of static. "Four ships ambushed me behind the asteroid. They grappled onto my ship and they're dragging me off!"

"Pirates?"

"No, they all have Spider's symbol. Call your Dad! They're jamming-" Max's signal fizzed and went dead.

Disaster upon disaster. Was everything in this asteroid a trap? Was Ravicks in league with Spider? Sorrel didn't know what to believe anymore.

She kept firing at Ravicks, hoping to break his shield. He kept advancing, his four arms cradling his wire rifle, but he didn't use it. His insectoid eyes were fixed on Sorrel, unblinking. Hungry.

"Vox, call Dad!"

"I'm sending his Ghost a distress call right now!"

The thickening Darkness aura made Sorrel's stomach heave. She fought down the rising urge to vomit - not inside her helmet, not in atmosphere this thin. If only the Awoken would let her inside. She pounded on the door and kept firing until her rifle clicked on an empty magazine.

Ravicks's shield failed, but by then it didn't matter. He lunged forward and seized Sorrel, wrenching the gun away, ripping her knife out of its hip sheath and flinging it off the docks. She fought and struggled with all her strength, but her Light was spent, and his very touch weakened her. He slammed his head into her helmet, rattling her skull like a seed in a gourd. Stars flashed before her vision.

Ravicks lifted Sorrel in all four hands as if she were a doll. "You're mine now, pretty female," he said, his voice thick and guttural. "Accompany me back to my skiff, and we'll see how your heart tastes."


	15. Spaced

The Sunhawk was far across the Reef. Tony Atkin had been rooting out an encampment of Fallen that had taken up residence in an old mine troublingly close to an Awoken village. He'd received their call for help as he'd been dropping off Max and Sorrel, and duty was greater than socializing.

But as he executed bloodthirsty aliens, he found that his heart wasn't really in it. The Reef had lost its mystery. His thoughts kept wandering from Sorrel to Havila, and homesickness wove its bitter web through his heart. Seeing Havila again in Sorrel - her face, her mannerisms, so much like her mother's - had reminded him sharply of how powerfully he had loved her. But he had been so hungry for acceptance by his peers, he had tossed her aside … and what an incredibly foolish decision that had been.

As Tony buried his fist in the face of a Vandal, Buck observed in his head, "You're not as focused as usual. You actually let them touch you."

"I can't concentrate, Buck," Tony said with a sigh, gazing around the cavern at the bodies of the dead aliens. He listlessly picked up the best of the weapons, piled them on his shoulder, and carried them back up the tunnel like a load of firewood. He'd drop them off with the Awoken, who could always use more weapon parts and ammunition.

"I think it may be time to head back to Earth," Tony added.

Buck chirped softly, a pleased agreement. The Ghost had fervently admired Havila and been in awe of little Sorrel. When Tony had joined the Sunbreakers, Buck's attitude toward him had cooled for many years. The divorce hadn't exactly ruined their friendship, but it had certainly diminished it. It wasn't until the Red War that Buck and Tony made up … and they had grieved the supposed deaths of Havila and Sorrel together. But now, knowing they were both alive, Tony's desire to return had grown stronger and stronger. Apologize. Attempt to make up. If Havila threw him out, he'd deserve it, but he had to try. Sorrel had said that Havila had waited all these years, so maybe there was hope.

Brooding and silent, he passed the weapons off to a troop of grateful Corsairs. Then he hiked back to the Sunhawk, which was perched precariously on a rocky hillside.

As he transmatted aboard, Buck said suddenly, "Receiving transmissions from Max and Sorrel. It's all fragmented. I think they're in trouble."

Tony stiffened for an instant. Then he leaped into the pilot seat and started the engines. "Where?"

"Near Signal Point." Buck appeared, his shield shell open, trying to pick up the signals more clearly. "Sorrel's Ghost is sending out a mayday alert, saying Sorrel has been captured by Ravicks. He's dragging her to his ship."

"What doesn't she fight?" Tony said through his teeth as the ship lifted off.

Buck listened. "Sorrel's out of ammo and Light combined. She's not as strong as we are, Tony. Young Guardians can't regenerate their Light at will."

"I should have offered to train her," Tony muttered, lifting off and heading into space. "But she's a Hunter, and I don't know anything about training Hunters. Chart me a course to Signal Point."

A map appeared on his computer screen with a zigzag route picked through the asteroids of the Reef. Estimated travel time: an hour and a half.

"Too long," Tony said. "Ravicks has _my daughter_ , Buck. Give me options."

Another course appeared - a long loop out of the asteroid field and back in. Estimated time: one hour.

"Buck," Tony said. "Too long. I said options."

The Ghost made an exasperated beep like a snort. A line straight through the asteroid field appeared. "Near lightspeed jump. Travel time, five minutes. And we'll be shredded pieces of metal from here to Signal Point."

Tony stared at that straight line. Near lightspeed enabled a ship to creep between the borders of dimensions, pressing the fabric of space and time outward in a wave. This enabled high speed travel without running into a stray grain of dust and tearing itself to bits. However, the backwash of an NLS jump could be devastating to a planetary body, changing acceleration and therefore gravity.

"Flag all inhabited asteroids in our path," Tony said.

Only two lit up green. Tony tapped the screen, changing the plotted course to avoid those areas. "There. Buck, make the jump."

Buck made a whimpering sound - the course had been sheer sarcasm, not one to be taken seriously. But he had no time to dither about the insanely dangerous thing they were about to do. He activated the jump drive.

The Sunhawk leaped to near lightspeed and charged through the Reef's interior like a stampeding bull. Asteroids spun out of its way, then were sucked along behind in its wake. Every orbital Techeun saw it happen and cursed the idiot Guardian who had dared try such a thing. A river of force had begun flowing through the Reef, and it would take years to correct it.

Five minutes later, the Sunhawk appeared at Signal Point, trailed by miles of spinning rocks. Ravicks's skiff lurked in the asteroid's shadow. Tony didn't wait for the Sunhawk to slow. As they flew by, he transmatted from his ship into the Fallen's ship, igniting his fiery hammer as he went.

A Fallen Skiff had one wide room in the front that doubled as the cockpit, and a long, narrow hall running through the tail. Ravicks could only have taken Sorrel to the cockpit, so that's where Tony landed. As he appeared, the first thing he saw was the huge alien crouched over a motionless human form, tearing at her with a knife.

Tony struck Ravicks in the back hard enough to shatter his spine.

Ravicks fell forward with a cawing cry, then turned on all fours. When he saw Tony, he hissed through his teeth, retreated to the control panel, and worked several controls at once. He vanished in a transmat shimmer.

"Coward," Tony spat. He knelt over Sorrel. The alien hadn't reached her heart, but he had laid her open with the expertise of a surgeon. She lay motionless in a pool of blood, unconscious or dead.

"Come out and take care of her, Ghost," Tony said. "Draw on my Light."

Vox appeared above Sorrel, her red and white shell open. "Thank you," she said softly. "All I could do was watch, and it was agony."

Tony extended a hand into the Ghost's Light field and let his own Light mingle with it. Vox's field widened, and she pulsed power into Sorrel, healing her wounds, calling her back to life.

Sorrel stirred, her helmeted head tossing from side to side. Then she sat up with a gasp. "Dad? What are you doing here? Where's Ravicks?"

"I hit him once and he rabbited," Tony replied. "Let's get you out of here. Where's Max?"

Sorrel scrambled to her feet. "Max's ship got dragged off by Spider's guys! I couldn't do anything because I was out here. What do we do?"

Tony held out a hand. "First, we get back to the Sunhawk."

Sorrel took his hand, and they transmatted back to Tony's ship. His irritated Ghost had brought it in closer, and lifted away from Signal Point as they appeared.

"Those asteroids we dragged are colliding with each other and Signal Point," Buck said. "I have hate messages from the tech witches."

"Ignore them," Tony said, sliding into the pilot seat. "Head for Thieves Landing. We have a date with Spider."

Sorrel took the copilot seat. "You dragged asteroids? How?"

"Nevermind," Tony said. "Tell me exactly what Spider has against your friend Max. He only captures ships when a serious debt is owed, and he's never done it to a Guardian."

"Well …" Sorrel hesitated. "Spider wanted us to catch you and bring you to him. When we didn't, he had Max's ship painted with his insignia and a Scorn head nailed to it."

Tony groaned. "That was a one-day warning. But of course, you two wouldn't know that. Why didn't you tell me?"

"We told you about Spider wanting you," Sorrel said.

"No, about the threat mark."

Sorrel had her Ghost transmat her scout rifle into her lap, where she checked it for damage and reloaded it. "We didn't think it was important. Max said it was an intimidation tactic, and he refused to be scared."

Tony nodded once. "He's right, but this is the Reef. When Spider threatens you, you pay attention. He has a lot of power here, and you cross him at your own risk. Well, I guess Spider gets his way. I'm going to go see him and figure out what he wants. Hopefully before he does something awful, like drowning Max in ether and caging his Ghost for sale."

Sorrel's hands slipped on her rifle. "He could do that?"

"He has done that," Tony said. "I don't know what the unfortunate Guardian did, but his body is still pickled in the back room as a threat to Spider's enemies. The Ghost was sold to the Fallen, who cut it apart."

Sorrel didn't reply, but her breathing sped up, and her hands shook as she laid her rifle across her lap.

* * *

Max had to sit back and watch as four spike-ridden Eliksni skiffs towed him back to the Tangled Shore. The thrust their ships created was greater than his own ship's reverse-thrust, and he couldn't escape them, short of jumping to NLS. And doing that while grappled and being towed would have torn his ship into four pieces. No, all he could do was grimly wait. With his comms jammed, he couldn't even find out what had happened to Sorrel. With luck, she had fought off the ambush and summoned Tony. She'd be fine. Right? She'd be fine.

They dragged him back to Thieves Landing and forced him to land near the little town, a short walk from Spider's den. Then two of Spider's spike-laden Vandals transmatted aboard Max's ship and silently demanded that he accompany them.

"All right, I'll come quietly," Max said, eyeing their arc spears, currently leveled at him. Inside his head, he asked Zero, "Is Crimson stored?"

"Safe and sound," she replied. "If it comes to a fight, I have a light supercharge waiting, too."

Max imagined impaling Spider on ice crystals and smiled behind his helmet's face shield. He let the aliens take his arms, and accompanied them out of the ship and into Spider's cave. With luck, this would only take a few minutes, then he could go back for Sorrel.

Spider still sat upon his eight-legged throne as if he'd never left it. Beside him still stood the human with a tablet, armored and wearing a helmet, her identity obscured. Max gave her a contemptuous glance as he was forced to the foot of Spider's throne. Erica had probably instigated this entire mess, and there she stood, acting as if nothing was wrong. She didn't even look up as Max was brought in.

"Well well," said Spider, sitting up straighter. "The elusive Maximilian Ross has appeared. What a surprise."

"What do you want?" Max snapped. "I don't have time for this."

Spider held up a clawed finger. "You and I had a bargain. I give you information. You bring me Tony Atkin."

"Tony Atkin is a Sunbreaker," Max said. "There's no way I could make him go anywhere. Besides, your information was bad. We disproved half of it without trying."

Spider drew a long breath through his teeth and looked at Erica. Erica glanced up at him. "The evidence was correct, sir."

"It was incomplete," Max said, turning to Erica. "Tony ran with pirates, but as a way to destroy them from the inside. Each ship he boarded wound up mysteriously crashed with the cargo restored to its original owners."

Erica made a tiny snort of a laugh, as she always used to when she was belittling Max for saying something stupid. He didn't have to see her face to know exactly what she meant. His temper flared in earnest.

"That was not the point," Spider said. "I gave you information. You did not bring me Atkin. I even sent you a warning a day ago. You disregarded that, too."

"I don't make deals with thugs," Max said.

Spider leaned forward. "You should have thought of that before you entered into our little agreement." He sat back in his seat and folded two of his hands across his belly. With the others, he gestured to Erica. "What shall we do to him, Shank?"

"Nothing," said Erica, setting her tablet aside. "By that, I mean you don't have to do a thing, Spider." She paced toward Max and picked up a spare arc spear. She worked the controls with the ease of long practice and the spear head began to crackle with electricity.

The guards released Max and retreated to a respectful distance. Max held up both hands. "Now, Erica, wait a minute." He could have stabbed her full of ice crystals in a second, but … this was a human woman, not an Eliksni crime lord. He couldn't use his powers on her. He backed away from that spear.

"You had me sent to the Prison of Elders," Erica said, her voice cool and calm. The spear in her hands aimed at his stomach, steady as stone. "You left me to rot out here in the Reef, even when you had to know there'd been a jailbreak."

She kept advancing, and Max kept backing away. The cavern wasn't that large, and he was running out of room. Behind him was an old Eliksni transmat station, just a platform with the focusing manifolds on a stand beside it.

"Look," Max said, holding up his empty hands, "I had no way of contacting you. There's nothing I could have done. The Reef was in chaos."

"You could have come looking for me," Erica said, jabbing at him.

Max flinched backward and stepped onto the transmat station.

Erica raised the spear and thumped the butt against the stone floor. "I was alone, Max. It was horrible. And now you're going to experience what I did. What it's like to be alone forever." She tapped the controls on the station.

Max had a second to feel the transmat's energy take hold of him. His first thought was gladness that he was escaping that cave, and Spider's stare, and that arc spear. Then he realized that Erica couldn't be sending him anywhere good.

He appeared in empty space, hundreds of miles above the Tangled Shore. It spread out below him, a hazy jumble of asteroids and metal, wrapped in a thin, blue atmosphere. Luckily, his helmet was still sealed to his suit, and he'd never removed the little oxygen tank he'd used back on Mercury. His suit automatically swapped to the tank as external atmosphere vanished.

"Zero," he thought, "call my ship."

"I can't," she replied. "They've still got the comms jammed."

Max revolved slowly in place, the Reef seeming to tilt to one side. "Can you contact Sorrel?"

Zero tried. "Something's wrong. There's interference and I can't get through. Feels like Darkness."

Max groaned and glanced at his HUD. "I have twenty minutes of oxygen. I can't stay out here. What do I do?"

Zero appeared beside him and bumped into his shoulder, setting him slowly spinning the other direction. She bumped him several times, flying backward to watch his progress. Then she vanished back into his suit. "I've given you a fractional amount of momentum. It'll bring you back down to the Tangled Shore in about … ten years."

"I think you need to bump me a lot more, then," Max said. "I can't wait that long." A panicky feeling was developing in the pit of his stomach. What had been a minor annoyance was quickly becoming an insurmountable problem. Erica had shoved him onto that platform and spaced him. A quick, clean execution, and nobody would ever find his body. How many other Guardians were floating around the Reef, their bodies creating just one more piece of debris?

"How about it I fire Crimson?" Max said. "That's a lot of thrust."

"It'll send you into a death spin," Zero said. "It will kill you faster."

"Contact anybody," Max said. "Tony, or Lord Dasa, or … or anybody!"

Zero tried. "Tony isn't answering. Lord Dasa is in a meeting and isn't accepting messages."

Max folded his arms. "Well, this is just great. I have eighteen minutes of air. By the time they answer, I'll be dead."

"I'll have to resurrect you once in a while," Zero said softly. "So your spark doesn't fade."

That was a lovely thought. He'd die of suffocation, then awakening only to die again. It sounded like a horror movie. Except that was his future. At least he had Crimson. He could end it quickly, rather than suffering.

"Stay calm, dear Guardian," Zero added. "If you panic, you'll consume more oxygen. We're in no danger at the moment. I'll keep trying to contact someone. I'm sure I'll get through soon."

Max nodded and watched the Reef slowly revolve around him. He couldn't help but watch the timer on his oxygen ticking down.

"Sorrel, hurry," he thought.

* * *

Sorrel trailed Tony into Spider's cave, keeping an eye out for Max. Max's ship was docked at the landing stage, and several of Spider's loyalists were unhooking grapples from the fuselage. But as they entered the cavern, there was no sign of Max, himself. A pit of dread opened in Sorrel's middle. Had Max been murdered and Zero caged?

"Ah, welcome, my friends," Spider said, opening his arms wide. "Tyrone Lanceborn. It's been a long time."

"Cut the pleasantries," Tony said, his stance relaxed and open. He smiled, but there was no warmth in his eyes. "What did you do with Max Ross?"

"Max Ross?" Spider said, steepling his fingers. "Now, that's an interesting question."

"Bring him out and I won't kill you," said Tony, still in a pleasant, conversational tone.

The guards lowered their spears to cover Tony and Sorrel.

"Now now," Spider chided, "that's no way to behave. Seems that news of this Max Ross means a lot to you. Hmm. Maybe we could reach an agreement, eh?"

"No bargains," Tony said. "Give him back, Spider, before I tear this place apart."

"Unpleasant," Spider said. "Rude. All I ask is a little favor, Lanceborn. Just one tiny matter. Had you come to me when I asked, a year ago, this would have all been settled."

Tony glared. "What is it?"

Spider lifted a hand and rotated his wrist for emphasis. "Just the small matter of Ravicks the Butcher."

Tony said nothing, but his fists clenched. Sorrel gazed from him, to Spider, to Shank. Erica was listening hard, her tablet forgotten in her hands.

In Sorrel's head, Vox said, "No signal from Zero anywhere in Spider's den. But there's a transmat station over there. He may have sent Max elsewhere."

Sorrel nodded a little, tense and waiting.

Spider said, "The Butcher has been a thorn in my side, as you humans say. Ever since the jailbreak, he's roamed around, collecting followers and making allies of Scorn. The Awoken don't like him much, either." He chuckled wheezily. "And now, I hear that he's gone to Fikrul. He's set his sights on becoming Kell of the House of Dusk." He leaned forward in his throne. "Do you understand what would happen if an Eliksni, raised as a Scorn, took command of the House of Dusk? Your Twilight Gap would be dwarfed by the magnitude of such a battle. Every Eliksni ever slain resurrected and attacking your City. You Guardians are powerful, but not powerful enough for that."

There was a short pause as this news sank in. Sorrel had known that Ravicks had been resurrected as a Scorn, but the implications hadn't occurred to her. She knew the basics of Eliksni society, but hadn't paid attention to their politics.

Spider barked, "I wanted him dead a year ago, Lanceborn. But you ignored me. I've had to resort to force to secure your services."

"Why me?" Tony snarled. "You have plenty of Guardians licking your feet."

"Because," Spider said, "Ravicks is too smart to reveal himself to just any Guardian. But he hates you, personally. He would fight you as a matter of honor. You can draw him out and slay him."

"What's in it for me?" Tony said.

Suddenly Erica lifted a hand, aiming a sidearm at Sorrel. "Because if you kill Ravicks, we won't kill your daughter."

Spider turned. "Shank? What's this?"

"This woman is Lanceborn's daughter," Erica replied, a note of glee in her voice. "I finally figured it out. Look at the way he's been protecting her. I knew her father had abandoned her to become a Sunbreaker, but I didn't figure it out until this minute."

Spider laughed and slapped the arm of his throne. "A daughter! The great Tyrone Lanceborn has a weakness after all, eh? Take her."

The guards surrounded Sorrel with their arc spears and forced her to move away from Tony.

"I could kill you all," Sorrel said through her teeth.

Over a private radio channel, Tony said, "Play along. See what information you can get out of Shank about Max while I'm gone. Killing Ravicks won't take long. I'll be back soon."

To Spider, Tony said, "All right, I'll do your dirty work. I want fifty thousand glimmer when I bring back Ravicks's head."

"I'll have it waiting," Spider said. He chuckled as Tony strode out. "Leverage, Shank. Leverage is all it takes." He turned his four eyes on Sorrel. "Well! A daughter. Tell me about her, Shank."

"Her name is Sorrel Atkin," Erica replied, returning her sidearm to its holster attached to the back of her belt. "She's a minimum-wage worker in the Last City, only recently got delusions of grandeur and became a Guardian …"

Sorrel stood there and listened to Erica's version of her life story. It was riddled with inaccuracies that made Sorrel want to summon her Light sword and slice Erica into lunch meat. But she kept quiet. Max's life depended on this bargain. Tony would keep his word and fight Ravicks to the death … but much depended on how long it took him to track the alien down.

When Erica drew to the end of her long-winded narrative, including how Sorrel had stolen Max from her just because she was Awoken, Sorrel broke in. "If you still want Max so much, where is he?"

"He's safe, for now," Erica said, turning her helmeted head toward Sorrel. Her entire stance was contemptuous. "Although if your dear daddy doesn't hurry, he won't be."

"Tell me, Erica," Sorrel growled.

Erica glanced at Spider. "Shall I?"

Spider waved toward Sorrel. "Be my guest, little Shank. It was your idea."

Erica turned back to Sorrel. "I spaced him."

Sorrel's heart froze in her chest. "You … you what?"

"Spaced him," Erica repeated in sweetly sarcastic tones. "Transmatted him into space outside the Reef. Oh, his helmet was on. I'm sure he had some air with him. He's probably still alive, and even when he dies, his Ghost can always bring him back. That's the thing about Guardians. You're infinitely recyclable."

Max was floating in space somewhere, slowly suffocating to death as his oxygen ran out. Then Zero would resurrect him, and he'd suffocate all over again. A red mist rose at the edges of Sorrel's vision. She drew deep breaths, trying to control the impulse to lash out with her Void Sword and kill everyone in the room. "You'd better bring him back."

"I can't," said Erica, with the sort of giggle that Sorrel hated. "The transmat is one way. And there's no transmat network out there in space. With luck, your daddy can track him with radar. Or maybe Max's nasty little Ghost will talk to you. I doubt it, though. That Ghost screened all my love letters. Did you ever write to him, Sorrel? Or did he lose interest when you lost your face?"

Sorrel clamped her teeth on her tongue to keep from answering.

Spider laughed and leaned back comfortably in his throne, picking up a Ghost shell and spinning the halves. "You humans and your relationship drama. Delightful! Do keep going. I haven't been so entertained in years."

Sorrel faced him. "You made up those charges against Max so you could drag him here and use him as bait."

"Business, dear," Spider said. "It was always about Lanceborn. Your companion would have been held here until Lanceborn showed his face, but Shank had more devious ideas. I've never seen two females fight over a male the way you two do. It isn't done in Eliksni society. Most entertaining."

"All for you, sir," Erica simpered. She pulled out her tablet and resumed working on it.

Sorrel focused on that tablet. There were all the records of Spider's misdeeds, his _business dealings_. If there was information to clear Max and Tony, it was stored there.

A desperate plan took shape in Sorrel's head. Without pausing to consult Vox, she cloaked herself in Void Light, disappearing from between the spears of the guards. She darted forward, snatched the tablet out of Erica's hands, then bolted for the transmat station. Erica shrieked. Spider roared. The guards slashed the air with their spears, trying to find the invisible Guardian, but it was too late. The transmat station activated with a hum and a flash, and Sorrel was gone.


	16. Rockfall

Max was drifting through the immense nothing of space. He'd let himself go completely limp, his arms floating weirdly in front of him. He kept his breathing slow and even, trying to minimize oxygen usage. Even so, he only had eight minutes left. Zero kept pushing and pushing him, trying to increase his speed, but a Ghost simply didn't generate a lot of thrust.

A flash of light reflected off the inside of his helmet. Max turned his head and gasped. "Sorrel!"

Sorrel had appeared some distance away, back at the spot where Max had transmitted in. He had drifted about half a mile from that spot already. She thrashed and kicked, sending herself into a spin.

"Sorrel!" Max called over the helmet radio. "I'm here! Calm down!"

She stopped thrashing, her body still spinning end over end. "Max? Where are you?"

"Over here. Have your Ghost bump you until she can stabilize your spin."

Vox materialized and began pushing Sorrel this way and that. Slowly her spinning stopped, and she began drifting in the same direction as Max. Her helmet turned toward him. "There you are! Erica said she spaced you. I had to come after you."

"Erica said?" Max replied. "Were you talking to Spider?"

Sorrel told him everything that had happened. Max listened with mixed feelings. On one hand, he was savagely glad that Tony was finally going to deal with Ravicks. Maybe he'd come pick them up afterward. On the other hand, Sorrel was out in space now, too. She'd die the same deaths he was facing. Dying, himself, was bad enough, but having to watch her die? It would gut him.

When Sorrel finished her account, there was a short silence. Max broke it by saying, "How much oxygen do you have?"

"About half an hour," Sorrel replied. "How about you?"

"Seven minutes," Max said.

Sorrel clapped her hands to the sides of her helmet. "Seven minutes! No!"

So he'd die before she would. She'd have to watch him smother in carbon dioxide. This was worse, somehow - shameful on a primal level. No wonder animals crawled away to die somewhere in hiding. Death was a private thing.

They floated in silence for a long moment. The Tangled Shore hung like a web of pale rocks and dust far below, a slice of damaged planetoid.

"At least you're not alone," Sorrel said softly.

Max watched the Tangled Shore. A tiny light was flashing down there - flashing and sparkling orange. A beacon?

"Max, I'm so sorry," Sorrel said, sounding close to tears. "I should … should never have … oh, you must be down to six minutes. Max, if we get out of this, I'll marry you in a heartbeat."

He couldn't help smiling in her direction. "It only took being adrift in space to convince you?"

"I've been an idiot," Sorrel choked. "I got to thinking about - about our different races, and what happens if you change, and if you leave me someday the way Dad did-"

The flashing, flickering light down on the Shore hadn't stopped. Max watched it. "Sorrel, I know people do change. But if we work on our relationship and don't let it fade, then we can change together. For the better, even."

Sorrel didn't reply for a moment. Then she said, "Thanks. I wish we had more, time, but … but do you see that?"

"The Light down there?" Max said. "I've been watching it."

"Light?" Sorrel said. "I mean this asteroid out here. I think it's going to hit us."

Max turned his head and upper body to look behind him. Sorrel was facing out into space. And sure enough, one of the asteroids was moving in their direction, growing larger and larger every passing second. It must already be within a few miles of them. It was headed straight for the Tangled Shore.

The thousands of asteroids set in motion by Tony Atkin's NLS dash through the Reef were arriving at the Tangled Shore. Already, some of them had struck the far side, causing immense damage to the delicately balanced asteroids and chunks of spaceship there. The Techeuns were working feverishly to divert the flying rocks from destructive courses toward inhabited areas. This asteroid had been sent by Judith Drell, herself, angling it away from the spaceport and sending it to crash into the uninhabited plane at the edge of the Shore.

Their Ghosts sprang to life, measuring the asteroid's speed and mass. "That thing will pulverize you both," Zero said. "But if we can match its velocity … Max, remember how I said firing Crimson would send you into a death spin? I take it back. A death spin is a small price to pay for matching the velocity of that asteroid."

Nearby, Vox was giving Sorrel similar instructions. "Here's your scout rifle. Fire it from the hip. You have to begin the thrust at your center of mass to avoid a spin. Zero, tell Max!"

"Right," Zero said. "Fire Crimson from the middle of your chest. You're not trying to hit a target. Just use the thrust."

Both Guardians began firing, cautiously at first, then emptying their magazines into the void. The asteroid kept approaching, tumbling slowly, its cratered surface growing clearer and closer. It was jagged and dusty, and would splatter both Guardians like insects on a windshield.

The kick from both weapons behaved differently in zero-G than in gravity. Had they been able to brace themselves against the ground, the kick would have been negligible. But in freefall, the weapons punched their owners, the action of the bullet firing having the equal reaction of shoving the Guardian backwards. The more they fired, the faster they moved.

"ETA ten minutes," Zero said. "Reload faster!"

"Zero," Max said suddenly, "I have two minutes of oxygen."

His Ghost was silent for a moment. Then she seemed to collect her nerve. "Fire anyway. Fire until you run out of air. I'll handle the rest."

"Max?" Sorrel said, reloading her rifle. "This is what we'll do. We'll land on the asteroid and ride it down to the shore. Once we're both on it, I'll give Zero my oxygen tank. Zero, can you take his tank and recharge it from mine?"

"Uh," Zero replied, "I've never tried a transfer like that in my memory. I think I could jury-rig a program to manipulate the mass."

"I'll work on it for you," Vox said. "We'll have to be quick."

"Either way," Max said between Crimson's noisy bursts, "I'm going to be dead for a little while. Don't freak out, all right, Sorrel? Zero can bring me back once we have air. Or just wait until we're on the surface."

Sorrel emptied an entire magazine before replying. She sounded a little too calm, as if she were holding back emotion. "All right. I can handle this. Perks of being a Guardian, right? Death is cheap."

Max glanced over his shoulder at the flickering lights on the surface. The Tangled Shore had drawn closer and bigger, spreading out in a false horizon. The flashing lights persisted.

"Zero," Max said suddenly, "can you detect what's going on down there?"

"I'll try," Zero said. "I can't quite … it's very … wait … oh, you're not going to believe this. That's Tony and Ravicks, having the fight of the century. I just confirmed with Buck."

Sorrel laughed out loud, ending on a squeal as if she were holding back a sob. "We might land right on top of them. Vox, alert Dad that we're coming."

Max emptied Crimson over and over as the asteroid drew nearer. The low oxygen alert began to ping in his suit. Zero had added a readout to his suit showing his speed relative to the asteroid's. The asteroid was moving at an even eight thousand miles an hour, but Max was only moving at about two hundred. They needed more thrust, fast, and they couldn't even move out of the asteroid's path.

The low oxygen alert changed to a constant buzz, and his HUD lit up red. Max tried to draw a breath and found no more air. He might as well have been trying to breathe through a plastic bag. His lungs pulled in carbon dioxide and respiration stopped.

"Hold on, Max," Zero said in his head. His suit jerked as she transmitted away his empty oxygen bottle. In the distance, Vox took Sorrel's bottle and sent the data to Zero. Sorrel kept firing, but she didn't speak, probably holding her breath.

Max tried not to breathe, but he had no air stored in his lungs. His head began to pound and so did his heart. The impulse struck him to tear off his helmet and try to breathe. But no, explosive decompression would be a worse death than strangling. He couldn't help clawing at his faceplate and kicking out. His suit had become a trap. Dizziness struck him suddenly, and his vision began to go black at the corners. He tried to yell for help, but he couldn't make a sound.

The oxygen tank jolted back into his suit as Zero transmatted it directly back into the valve. Oxygen hissed into his suit. Max inhaled and this time sweet air filled his lungs. He cried out in relief and concentrated on breathing.

Zero sent the other tank back to Vox, who reattached it to Sorrel's suit. Sorrel made a similar sound of relief as her oxygen returned.

"Twelve minutes of oxygen for both of you," Zero said. "But the asteroid is only seven minutes from hitting you, and from there it's a straight shot to the Shore. I think we'll make it."

"Can you revive a splattered Guardian?" Max said hoarsely.

Zero made an amused beep. "I can revive you from any condition, dear Guardian. Now, reload Crimson. I only have two ammo synths left."

Max glanced at his HUD, blinking through a haze that lingered in his vision. Still not fast enough.

"Sorrel," he said, "we'll have to use our Light to propel ourselves."

Her helmet turned toward him. They had drifted closer together over time, and now she was only about a hundred feet away. "How?"

Max grinned. "Attack the asteroid. Use a power that you know generates a ton of pushback. We can't stop the rock, but we can move ourselves."

Sorrel was quiet a moment, then said, "On three."

They counted down from three. When they reached one, Max raised his feet and kicked a blast of ice at the asteroid. A white mist traveled through space and impacted on the asteroid's surface, creating a surprisingly large circle of ice.

At the same time, Sorrel summoned her Void sword and executed a tricky set of moves with it, slashing and parrying in midair. It drove her backward, too. Max watched as their speed rapidly increased past a thousand miles an hour, then fired more ice.

By the time the asteroid caught up to them, they were moving nearly the same speed it was. As the jagged, pitted surface drew closer and closer, Max suddenly realized that he wasn't floating at all. He had been falling the whole time, falling toward this asteroid. He swung his feet forward and landed on the rock as if he'd dropped from a jumpship. His ankles snapped. He pitched forward and grabbed ahold of a ridge of stone to keep from flying back into space.

Zero's healing light mended his ankles as Sorrel dropped onto the asteroid, too. Dust puffed up from her point of impact, and she grunted.

"You all right?" Max called breathlessly.

After a moment, Sorrel groaned, "I'm alive. Vox is having to heal me. I thought this thing would have gravity."

"Not enough mass," said Zero cheerfully. Both Ghosts were cheerful, now that their Guardians were actually riding the asteroid. "Now, the biggest problem is the descent to the Tangled Shore. We're traveling at about eight thousand miles an hour. Neither of you have parachutes, and the atmosphere isn't deep enough for a parachute to work, anyway."

"We all die in a giant fireball?" Max said.

"Sounds good to me," Sorrel said. She climbed over the rocks toward Max, trying to keep herself anchored to the surface. Max caught her hand and pulled her in, and they embraced for a long moment. He leaned his helmet against hers so the sound would conduct through the glass. He could see her face, so near, and yet so far away. Her green eyes glowed nearly yellow with fear and weariness.

Max stroked the side of her helmet. "I have a really stupid idea for how to keep us from dying instantly. But it's stupid, and we might die anyway."

She smiled. "Stupid is all we have right now. Can I help?"

"Of course," Max said. "We're going to modify this asteroid so we can drop it on top of Ravicks."

Sudden interest flickered in her eyes. "How?"

"By combining our powers," Max said. "See if you can wrap this rock in Void Light. Make it disappear. I'm going to grow icicles all over the side facing the Shore. We'll come down like an invisible ball of spikes. At the last second, we're going to jump, and I'm going to try to make snow to cushion us."

"Sounds insane," Sorrel said. "I like it." She pressed both hands to the rock beneath them. Void Light rippled outward, engulfing every rock and crater in shimmering, purple darkness that twinkled with stars.

Max pressed his feet to the stone and willed ice into being, crafting it in his mind into crystals like spears.

And the asteroid plunged toward the Tangled Shore, nearly invisible, a weapon of Guardians.

* * *

Tony Atkin hadn't had to look far to find Ravicks. The Darkness-ridden alien had tracked him to Thieves Landing, the ether in his body knitting his broken spine back together.

Buck had sent a message to Ravicks in Eliksni, demanding honorable combat, Tony versus Ravicks, no backup. Ravicks had agreed. "And when I triumph, I win the right to devour your heart. Your Light shall become mine."

Tony didn't disagree. He needed to kill this alien, and if that was the only condition that would draw him out, then so be it.

They faced each other on the wide, windy plains at the edge of the Shore, Tony in his ragged armor, armed with his fiery hammer. Ravicks carried two arc spears and two knives, their blades already crackling with electricity.

They circled each other, watching the movements of the other. The last time Tony had fought Ravicks, the alien had been merely an Eliksni, with the speed and agility of his race. But now he was a Scorn, his body full of dark ether. He moved even quicker now, his motions smooth and cat-like. He'd also lost all caution, trusting to the ether to mend his wounds. Tony could use that against him.

"Armor has a gap in the back," Buck said in Tony's head. "Arc shield has low battery. Ravicks isn't being as careful of his gear as he used to be."

Tony had actually donned a helmet, its sleek design engraved with the icon of the Sunbreakers. It had belonged to the Empyreal Magistrate of the Sunbreakers, struck down by a Cabal Centurion during the Red War. Tony now wore it in his honor, facing down a foe his commander would have loved to taken on. He still wore no gauntlets, leaving his Light tattoos uncovered. They were better than any armor, anyway, keeping the cold of the Shore at bay.

Ravicks charged forward, spears at the ready. Tony waited for him, weighing his hammer in two hands. As the alien reached striking distance, Tony slammed his hammer into the ground, sending a wave of fire across the ground that engulfed Ravicks. Ravicks kept coming, his shield failing. In a second they were hard at it, hammer and spears, stabbing, parrying, thrusting, circling each other, then striking hard, constantly seeking a weakness in the other's defense.

Ravicks wrapped one hand around an electrified spear blade, channeled the arc energy through his body, and hurled a lightning bolt at Tony. It struck the Titan's steel armor and conducted it straight through him. Tony bellowed in pain and threw his hammer. It struck Ravick's shoulder, breaking his upper left arm. Ravicks hissed and dropped that spear, shifting the grip of his other three hands to his remaining spear. Tony charged forward, scooping up his hammer and delivering a punch to Ravicks's damaged arm. The alien slashed at him with his spear, backhanded, but Tony blocked the blow with the hammer's shaft.

They circled each other, more wary now, seeking a vital spot.

"You are doomed, Lanceborn," Ravicks hissed. "Dark ether empowers me. It is greater than your Light."

"The wish of a madman empowers you," Tony replied. "And the curse of a dragon."

They closed and clashed. Tony parried the spear with the flat side of the hammerhead, then rammed the head into Ravicks's midsection. Ravicks staggered back a step, then swiped his spear at Tony's legs. The blade slashed across both thighs, screeching across the armor, the electricity striking through the metal, into muscle and bone. Tony stumbled.

Ravicks saw his advantage and pressed it, slashing left, right, and again at Tony's legs, keeping the Guardian off balance. Tony parried the body blows and backed away, trying to get some distance. Blood trickled down the side of his thigh.

Dark ether puffed from Ravicks's damaged arm. With a pop of bone, the broken arm set itself and knitted together. Ravicks halted his attack in order to flex his arm and test his grip with that hand.

Tony was able to back out of range of the spear, and his Ghost healed him.

"This fight is taking too long," Buck observed in Tony's head. "You should have killed him by now."

"I know," Tony thought. "He heals himself as fast as you heal me. Suggestions?"

"I just had a message from Max and Sorrel," Buck replied. "They're coming to help."

"Tell them no!" Tony thought, adjusting his grip on his hammer as Ravicks raised his spear. "This is single combat."

"Don't be such a prideful ass," Buck replied. "Besides, they can't help it. They're riding one of the disturbed asteroids and they're dropping on top of our position."

Tony glanced at the sky. There was no descending asteroid, but there was something strange up there - a shimmer of purple edged with fire.

Ravicks saw his enemy was distracted and sprang forward, driving his spear through Tony's midsection, beneath the edge of the breastplate, and out his back.

The pain of being stabbed was bad enough, but the shocks of the electrified blade were deadly agony. Tony went down, unable to make a sound, although his mind was a continuous yell of fury and pain. Ravicks pinned him down with a foot and ripped the blade out, the hooked underside tearing the Sunbreaker wide open. Then he slashed at Tony's throat. Tony protected himself with an upflung arm, but the blade laid his arm open to the bone. Fire burst from the damaged tattoo. Tony caught the spear handle with that hand and poured heat into it, burning Ravicks's hands.

Ravicks wrenched the spear away, hissing. "Your Light is not as strong as my Darkness, pathetic Lightbearer. Now you will die, and I will consume your Light."

Tony glanced at the sky and laughed. "I think you have bigger problems, bug."

A roaring noise was growing louder and louder. Ravicks finally took his eyes off his prey and looked up, too.

A vast shimmering thing was descending toward them, trailing smoke and flames as the atmosphere heated it. It didn't look like an asteroid - it was more like a ball of glass, something delicate and unearthly. Impossible glass spikes covered the side facing them, unaffected by reentry heating, insuring a quick death to anyone beneath.

Ravicks turned to run, but Tony caught one of his lower arms and hung on, becoming dead weight. "You're not going anywhere, filth."

"You will perish, too!" snarled Ravicks, kicking at him. "Your Ghost will die!"

"I don't think so," Tony said. "But nobody will ever find your remains." He gripped Ravicks's legs with his uninjured hand and squeezed. The ankle joint popped and dislocated. Ravicks screeched.

"Tony!" Buck exclaimed. "You have to run! That asteroid is the size of a mountain! I'll never be able to resurrect you if you're buried miles deep!"

Tony released Ravicks, leaving the alien struggling on all fours. Tony flung his hammer at the alien's head, stunning him. Then he ran, his Ghost mending his insides as he went.

In the distance, a blast of Light struck the ground, creating a drift of white.

"Head for that," Buck said. "You still have time. Run!"

Tony pushed himself to a sprint, fighting the pain and weakened muscles, riding the healing Light Buck was pouring into him. The asteroid's roar grew louder until the air seemed to shake with it. Tony didn't dare look up - he had to focus on reaching that white spot.

A knife struck him in the back, and Tony nearly fell. He ripped the blade out as he regained his balance. A glance over his shoulder showed him that Ravicks was pursuing him, dark ether smoking from his wounds, limping on all six limbs, but determined to devour his prey, even now. Tony gave him a crude gesture and kept running. "Buck, I need my machine gun."

As the Ghost transmitted it into his arms, he said, "Whatever happened to hand to hand combat?"

"Little late for that," Tony said. He turned, running backward, and gave Ravicks a faceful of seven millimeter rounds. The alien's head disappeared in a burst of dark ether, the body falling headlong. Before he'd stopped moving, the dark ether began rebuilding Ravicks's head. But it was the delay Tony needed.

He slid into the white spot on the ground, which turned out to be half an acre of fluffy powder snow. As he did, two other figures hit the snow, kicking up plumes of white. Guardians. Max and Sorrel. Tony dropped his machine gun, leaped toward them, and pulled on his Light. Long ago, before Solar Light had consumed his focus, he had specialized in the disciplines of protection, those granted by Void Light. As the young Guardians lay on the ground, groaning, probably with broken legs from the impact, Tony spread his arms and threw up his strongest Ward of Dawn. A purple shield enfolded them like a bubble.

The asteroid hit the Tangled Shore like a bomb. The entire Shore cracked and shifted, rocking from end to end. The shelf beneath the impact sank away, and the new asteroid sank into its place, becoming one more ridge of rock, hot and smoking, filling the thin atmosphere with dust. Ravicks was not only buried, he was pancaked in age-old strata, between the original asteroids of the Reef and the newcomer. Not a breath of ether lingered about his bones.

Judith Drell, orbital Techeun, exerted her powers to stabilize the shore, tugging the threads of probability and acceleration, and cursing softly. So many asteroids would strike the habitable zones in the next several years, creating so much work for her and her sisters. Blast that Guardian, whoever it had been, setting them all in motion. Later, when she discovered it had been Tony Atkin, Judith was not surprised in the least.

* * *

The world may have been ending, but Sorrel wanted to die with oxygen in her lungs. She tore off her helmet, then helped Max remove his. The ground pitched and rocked beneath them. The world had gone white, then black, as a dust cloud thick as mud blotted out the sun. Splintered boulders and chunks of metal struck the Ward of Dawn and bounced off, but the Titan standing over them never flinched.

Sorrel's pelvis was broken, and for a while, the earthquakes and churning atmosphere were a reflection of her own agony. But Vox mended her, bit by bit, and the pain faded. Sorrel lay in the cold snow and gasped air into her lungs. Beside her, Max did the same, staring up at the Light shield, wincing every time a rock struck it.

Gradually the earthquakes subsided, although the grinding of shifting rock persisted for the next few days. The black dust began to settle, and the sky grew pale overhead, the sun riding in a sea of gray. Only then did Tony Atkin lift his head and look over his shoulder at them. "You kids know how to make one hell of an entrance."

Max sat up, grinning. "One might even call it earth-shattering."

Sorrel sat up, too, and wrapped her arms around Max's arm. "I can't believe we did it."

"What, exactly, did you do?" Tony asked.

Sorrel and Max explained about Void and ice, about Spider spacing Max and Sorrel going after him, about the woman Shank giving Spider information about them. Tony listened without a word.

Only when the sky was mostly clear did Tony let the Ward of Dawn fade. Then he sat down beside them in the snow, pulling off his helmet. He ran a hand over his mohawk, then raised a hand. "Here's what we're going to do. Neither of you will ever go near Spider again. I'm going back for the bounty on Ravicks, and I'll let Spider know that you were both killed by the asteroid fall. That ought to make your friend Shank happy."

"Don't you think she ought to be punished?" Sorrel exclaimed. "She tried to kill us both!"

Tony gave her a long look. "She's a human with a price on her head, forced to serve Spider for the rest of her life. Don't you think she's being punished enough?"

Sorrel looked away and didn't answer. Max wore no expression at all, and said nothing.

Tony rose to his feet. "I'll make sure you get your ship back, Max. In the meantime, the Sunhawk is on her way. You two rest up while I deal with Spider. You've been through a hell of a thing."

"So have you, Dad," Sorrel said.

Tony smirked. "I've been through worse."

As he turned away, Sorrel remembered something. "Oh, Dad, wait a minute. Before I spaced myself, I grabbed Shank's tablet. It has all of Spider's records. It might clear you and Max. I never had a chance to look at it." She had Vox transmat it into her hands and held it out.

From Tony's expression, she might as well have handed him a brand-new fusion rifle made from outlawed Braytech. He took the tablet reverently, turned it on, and tapped the screen a few times. Buck appeared at his shoulder, studying it intently.

"Sorrel," Tony said, without taking his eyes off the screen, "I owe you about three lifetimes of service for this."

"Does that mean I can ask you a favor?" Sorrel said.

Tony looked up at last, frowning. "Yes, it does."

She drew a deep breath. "Come back with us and see Mom."

Tony gazed at her for a long moment in silence. Then he nodded once and returned to studying the tablet.


	17. Aftermath

Once on the Sunhawk, Max went to the galley, sat in a chair, then laid his head and shoulders on the tabletop. Sorrel sat beside him. "Are you all right?"

"I don't know," Max said. "I'm not … handling it."

She laid a hand on his back and felt him trembling. He had been out in space a lot longer than Sorrel had. He'd also nearly suffocated. Their final jump from the descending asteroid had been terrifying, with Max flinging ice ahead of them to soften their landing. Perhaps he had a little Light burn, too.

Sorrel put an arm around him and rested her head against his. They sat like that for a long time, not speaking, as Max shook. After a while, their Ghosts joined them, Zero on one side, Vox on the other. Together they supported Max in silence, letting him work through his shock and trauma.

At last he said, "We broke the Tangled Shore."

Sorrel nodded.

Max shut his eyes. "Did you see the cracks open up? We broke up the whole place. All the people here. We may have killed them all."

"The Techeuns keep everything stable," said Sorrel. "They won't let it happen."

Max turned his head, pressing his cheek against Sorrel's. After a long time, he whispered, "You came for me."

"I did," she whispered.

He freed an arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, clutching her against his side. He was still trembling. Sorrel relaxed, letting him feel her there, hoping some of her own peace would trickle through. It was surprising that she felt so calm. Her churning fears were gone. She had pledged to marry him, and with that choice came acceptance. He was going to be hers, and she would be his. No more dithering or second-guessing. Really, the only thing that concerned her was how easy it was to sit there, holding him, seeing him at his most vulnerable and shielding him. Weren't relationships supposed to be more difficult than this? But then, Sorrel hadn't witnessed a lot of healthy relationships.

So she sat there, at peace, in the quiet of the docked ship, holding her best friend and letting him recover from several brushes with death at once.

After a while, Max sat up a little. He kissed Sorrel on the cheek, then turned his head and kissed Zero's blue shell. "Thank you both."

Zero's eye blushed pink. "Goodness, Max. You'll make Sorrel jealous."

Sorrel leaned against him. "It's all right. But what happens to people's Ghosts when they get married?"

"The people or the Ghosts?" Max said, and chuckled a little. He turned his head and gazed into Sorrel's eyes. "So … you're serious about marrying me? I was afraid you were just saying it to make me feel better. You know. Out in space."

"I meant it," Sorrel said, meeting his gaze steadily. "When we came out here … yeah, I'd missed you. But I'd never really seen the real you. I didn't know you that well. But the Reef has a way of stripping people bare, and … and you lost your Light, and Spider tried to kill you. I saw you go through all that. I saw the real Maximilian Ross. And … I think I fell for you somewhere along the way. I don't know how it happened."

Max ran his fingertips down the scarred side of her face, then the good side. "You don't know how much that means to me. I saw the real you when this happened. You'd been so afraid of your looks screwing up relationships … then you lost them. And it was my fault, but you never blamed me. You went through such hard things. And I lost my heart to you. I never could get over it."

"I know you did," Sorrel murmured, marveling at how gentle his blue eyes could be. "It scared me. But you never tried to push me, and I liked you so much … that's one reason I left. I had to decide how I felt about you. I never did decide. Until now."

"Kiss me, then," said Max.

Some time later, Sorrel asked, "But what about our Ghosts?"

"What about them?" Max asked. Both his arms were around her, and one of her hands was buried in his shaggy blond hair.

Sorrel looked at Zero and Vox, who floated nearby, watching unashamedly. "Are you two all right with us getting together?"

"Yes," said both Ghosts at once.

"You've been in love with him since he showed up again as a Guardian," Vox added. "You just didn't know you were. I think you held a candle for him before that, even."

"No way, really?" Sorrel said, warmth rising into her cheeks.

Max grinned. "That long, huh?"

Vox turned to him. "You can't imagine how much she despised Erica for walking out on you."

Max hugged Sorrel against him, and she felt him sigh. After a moment, he loosened his hold a little. "Zero? How about you? You've been my girl for two years now."

Zero twirled her shell. "What you and I have is different from what you feel for Sorrel. I'm a separate box, to borrow the metaphor. You need her. She needs you. I think you'll be incredibly happy together. Just … please don't be jealous." She turned to Sorrel. "Erica was so jealous of me, she told Max that I wasn't allowed out in her presence. I'll never try to get between you. And I'll never filter your letters."

"I'll know if you do," Vox said, clinking her shell against Zero's.

Sorrel smiled. "Don't worry about me, Zero. I know how much you care about each other. Vox and I are the same way. I just can't envision day to day life. How do Ghosts fit in? Are you like our roommates?"

"Kids, more like," Max said. "Bratty, one-eyed kids."

Zero gave him the most sarcastic look Sorrel had ever seen from a Ghost.

Vox, however, spun her shell thoughtfully. "You know, I have no idea. I'll have to ask Phoenix and Neko. They're the only Ghosts I know with married Guardians."

Sorrel turned back to Max, who stroked her scarred cheek again. He smiled, a little sadly. Then he held up his hand, flexing it. "You don't mind marrying a broken Guardian who can't use Light with his hands anymore?"

Sorrel had a brief, vivid memory of the burning hammer scorching the tattoos off, and Max collapsing into unconsciousness. She twined her fingers through his. "You're not broken. You're amazing."

He gazed at their joined hands, still with that sad smile. "I guess we're both scarred, now. You on the outside, me on the inside. What a pair we make."

"Stop being melancholy," Sorrel said, leaning on his chest. "I can't stand it." She kissed him until the sadness had completely left Max's eyes.

* * *

Spider's cave was in disarray when Tony arrived. He wove his way between toppled crates and places where the ceiling and walls had cracked. Spider's loyalists were busy shoring up ceilings, dragging out supplies, calling to each other to bring more tools or materials.

Spider, himself, was off his throne and in a shallow antechamber near the entrance. He and Shank were busy talking to several Vandals, listening to damage reports and giving orders. Shank had already replaced her tablet with a new one. Her helmet prevented Tony from reading her face, but her body language was calm and professional.

Tony stood in the entrance until Spider was through giving orders. Then the huge alien saw him and laughed grimly. "There you are, Lanceborn. I thought you were dead."

"Not quite," Tony said. "Ravicks is dead. He's buried beneath that asteroid. My Ghost has scans to prove it."

"So, you're the one who caused all this mess," said Spider, but he laughed. "I knew Guardians were destructive, but this is more than I bargained for."

Tony focused on Shank. "Sorrel Atkin and Max Ross are also dead. I caught their final transmissions from space."

"Pity, that," Spider said. "Business is business."

Shank didn't look up from her tablet, but her hand froze in midair. She stood perfectly still for a second, then went on working. She showed no other reaction.

"So," Tony went on, "I want my money."

"What money?" Spider said.

"Fifty grand for killing Ravicks. That was the agreement."

Spider gestured at the chaos around them. "As you can see, I've been inconvenienced by your victory. Let's call it twenty."

"Forty-five," Tony said.

They dickered back and forth for a while, and Tony walked out with thirty-two thousand glimmer in his account. He didn't care if he ever saw Spider again, or the Tangled Shore.

As he walked back to the landing stage, he had Buck put a call through to Lord Dasa. After a moment, Dasa responded, his voice relayed by his Ghost. "Atkin. Good to hear from you. What's going on out there?"

Tony updated him on events. "You'll be glad to know that Ravicks the Butcher is dead. He's buried a mile deep under an asteroid, and no amount of dark ether will ever revive him."

"Praise the Light," Dasa exclaimed. "He'd been terrorizing settlements again, just like last time. Do you want the bounty?"

"Naturally," Tony said. "I'll have my Ghost forward my account information. After this, I'm headed back to Earth. I may not be around as often."

"Do as you please, Atkin," Dasa replied. "I have no hold over you. But please, don't forget about your people."

"I haven't forgotten," Tony said quietly. "But there are some people who take priority."

He cut the connection as he reached Max Ross's ship. It had been cut loose from the grapples restraining it, but otherwise had been abandoned when the asteroid struck.

"Buck, slave the autopilot to the Sunhawk's computer," Tony said. "I'm giving the kid back his ship."

"Right away," said Buck, and phased aboard. A moment later, he reappeared, spinning his shield shell cheerfully. "All done. She awaits your command."

"Good," said Tony, turning toward the Sunhawk, which idled far out at the end of a dock. "Transmat me aboard."

The interior of his ship was welcomingly quiet and peaceful. He went looking for Max and Sorrel and found them in the galley, sitting close together, their arms around each other. They looked up with guilty expressions as he entered. Tony was unsurprised. He'd caught many of the little looks and touches they'd exchanged while together. Just a fireteam - yeah, right.

"It's done," he said. "Spider believes you're dead. He stiffed me eighteen grand, but he paid. Your ship will follow mine, Ross. You ready to go back to Earth?"

Sorrel and Max left their seats and stood up, holding hands. "Very ready," said Sorrel. "Dad, Max and I have decided to get married."

"Glad to hear it," Tony said, thinking of Havila with a pang. He shook a finger at Max. "Don't do what I did. You stick with her, or I'll make you regret it. Understand?"

Max met his gaze steadily. "Sir, I'll take the best care of her that I possibly can." He turned an adoring expression on Sorrel. It was plain that he no longer saw her scars. "She deserves the very best."

Tony turned to Sorrel. "I know you're my daughter, and we don't know each other that well. But as your father, I want to say that he'll give you grief sometimes. Are you willing to stick it out?"

"Yes, Dad," Sorrel said. "I left once. It didn't help."

A lot more could have been said on both sides, but looking at them, Tony decided there was no point. They'd both walked through fire for the other, and in his eyes, that was enough. His failure had been that he'd embraced the fire and left his mate behind.

Sorrel beamed. "What say we celebrate? Let me collect my things from Max's ship. I have a bottle of wine, if Spider's guys didn't pillage it."

A little later, they were sitting around the galley table, eating the last of Sorrel's cheese, matzah, jelly, accompanied by the wine. Tony hadn't had such delicacies in years, and their little party grew very cheerful.

"Now we're sure about marrying," Max said, "it's all logistics from here. Do we want a big party? Because inviting my family would probably be a disaster."

"Why's that?" Tony asked. By the time Max finished telling him about his well-off family who despised him for becoming a Guardian, Tony regretted asking.

"Keep it small, if you do a wedding party," Tony said. "Only invite the people you want to be there. When I married your mother, we invited Judith. It didn't end well."

Sorrel's eyes widened. "I'll bet it didn't."

Max cleared his throat. "Right, right. The other thing I'm thinking about … where do we live? I'm not technically Vanguard, but Sorrel is. We could live in the Tower, or find a house in the City."

"The City," Sorrel said at once. "The neighborhoods by the lake district are so pretty, and there's a lot of new buildings over there since the war. I can commute to the Tower."

She and Max exchanged delighted smiles.

Tony sipped his wine, watching them. He expected to see little hearts floating above their heads any moment. The conversation went on, mostly Max and Sorrel working out details, with Tony only offering suggestions when asked. If Havila was willing to speak to him again, maybe he'd be around the City more to see what became of Sorrel and Max. Maybe there would be grandchildren someday. Blazing Light, he thought he'd die out here in the Reef, and now he was thinking about grandchildren. How quickly things changed.

When they began their journey back to Earth, Tony went with a tremble of nerves that had nothing to do with his alcohol consumption. Max and Sorrel fell asleep in their flight seats, worn out from the events of the day. Tony let them sleep. They'd both survived attempted murder, and even for a Guardian, trauma was trauma.

Tony inspected his arm, where Ravicks had cut him and damaged his tattoo. Buck had healed him with almost no scarring, but the tattoo's glow now had a line through it where the flesh had knitted.

Buck appeared and looked at it, too. "I tried to mend it," he said softly. "But I couldn't regenerate the ink."

"It's not your fault, bud," Tony said, drawing a little fire to his hand. "It still works, just not as well. My other arm is fine."

Buck gazed at him for a moment. "I hope Havila is gracious."

Tony nodded and didn't answer. There were no words for the depths of his torment after the Red War, thinking she was dead when he could have protected her. And now, here he was, hoping to reconcile and knowing he deserved to be kicked to the curb, instead.

* * *

They reached Earth half a day later. Max and Sorrel went to the Tower to check in and begin wedding arrangements. Tony went down to the City by himself.

He hadn't been there since the war, when bombing and fires had reduced so much of it to ruins. Now much of it had been rebuilt, with new neighborhoods springing out of nowhere. Children played, adults worked or visited in their front yards, music echoed from many places. Tony marveled as he walked.

Havila lived in a poorer section that had escaped the Red Legion's notice. It was a rusting prefab house, but Havila's talent with plants had many types of flowers blooming around the doorstep. Tony stood on the front walk for a long time, gazing at the place, trying to gather his courage. Why hadn't he showered and put on civilian clothes? Why hadn't he brought her a gift of some kind? Maybe he'd try again later. He wasn't ready.

As he started to turn away, the front door opened. "Hello?" said a familiar voice.

Tony halted and slowly turned. Maybe she wouldn't recognize him and he could escape. Maybe he wouldn't recognize her. It had been twenty years, and -

His thoughts froze in his head. Havila stood on the doorstep, her sea-green hair cascading over her shoulders. She hadn't aged at all that he could see, the heritage of the Awoken evident in her flawless skin and clear eyes.

They gazed at each other in silence for a long moment, the rough Guardian in battered armor and glowing battle tattoos, and the Awoken woman in a simple sun dress.

Havila smiled. "Tony?"

He tried to speak, but his mouth was so dry, he had to cough first. "Havila."

She walked forward and held out a hand. Tony met her halfway, clasping her small, smooth hand in both his huge, rough ones. "Havila. I thought you were dead."

She tilted her head to one side. "Did you?"

"I tried to find you after the war. But there were no records."

She smiled - how he had missed that smile. "The house burned and my papers were lost. We had to start over. Come inside. Tell me how you've been. Do you still like the blended herb tea?"

Tony followed her up the walk, his heart pounding. "Yes, yes I do."

She looked over her shoulder. "Is Buck still around?"

His Ghost appeared at his shoulder. "Yes, ma'am."

Havila paused and held out a hand. Buck flew to her, as he used to.

"You tell your Guardian," she murmured, "that he's welcome to stay as long as he likes. So are you."

Buck made a happy beeping sound and flew back to Tony's shoulder.

Tony followed Havila inside, and the door closed behind them.

* * *

Spider didn't follow through on his threat to frame Max, believing him dead. However, Lord Dasa sent the City police chief a complete report of Max's actions, complete with a glowing commendation. Max received a talking-to and a slap in the wrist, but there was no mention of a trial or exile.

Sorrel reported to the Vanguard and requested light duty around the City. Commander Zavala granted it, as there weren't enough Hunters lingering around the Tower, all fearing to be chosen as Hunter Vanguard.

Once that was settled, Max and Sorrel were married the following week in a quiet, private ceremony that amounted to dinner out with friends. Kari and Jayesh came along, along with some other friends from the Cormorant Blade and the police station. Tony and Havila came, too, and sat close together. This made Sorrel extremely happy.

Jayesh and Max talked about the ways their Light had been damaged, Jayesh with mental damage, and Max with physical. Jayesh offered whatever help he could, then they got off in the weeds, talking about learning the guitar.

Sorrel talked to everyone, happy to recount their adventures in the Reef. But part of her began to long for their new home, and to be alone with her new husband.

Once the reception was over, she and Max transmatted to their little house in the lake district. It was quite small, but it had a yard, and shade trees, and a porch that over looked the grounds around the lake. Sorrel foresaw many evenings on that porch, watching the sun go down and talking.

As she and Max changed out of their wedding things, Max stopped with his shirt off to put his arms around her and kiss her. "You are beautiful," he told her simply.

Sorrel ran her hands over the scars on his arms where the ether tattoos had been. "And you are the bravest man I know."

He nuzzled her. "Only because I have someone to be brave for."

Sorrel gazed into his eyes, which were such a bright blue, they seemed to glow like her own. "And now I do, too."

He kissed her, beginning slowly and gently, but growing more desperately passionate, asking without words to give her his love. Sorrel accepted and gave him her own-all her fears and feelings, her doubts, mixed with her adoration and growing devotion.

After that, there wasn't much talking for several hours. Their Ghosts drifted out onto the porch together to give their Guardians some privacy.

"I'm so glad Sorrel accepted him," Zero sighed. "You don't know what it was like while you two were gone. He pined."

"So did Sorrel," Vox replied. "She tried to bury it for two years. She never admitted to me that she missed him. Then we came home, and Max greeted her with that hug … and she began to crack."

"And now, here we are," Zero said with a laugh. "Oh, they're so happy. I talked to Phoenix and Neko at the reception. Neko's had trouble sharing his Guardian, but he's always been the jealous kind. But Phoenix loves his Guardian being married. He went on and on about mingled Light and neural bond changes. I think you and I are in for a whole new adventure."

Vox extinguished her eye for a second. "I hope I'm up to the challenge."

"You will be!" Zero said. She paused, too, sensing her connection with Max. Already, it had grown deeper, and in a way, more resonant with the Light. The damage done by Fikrul was mending as Sorrel's Light began to seep in. It was a shock at first, but the more Zero paid attention, the more she realized that an amazing thing was happening. Max's union with Sorrel was strengthening his bond with Zero, making both of them stronger.

"Oh, that's what Phoenix meant. The neural bond _is_ changing." Zero hesitated. "In a way, she's healing him. He has so many wounds in his soul, you know. Things he doesn't let anyone see, like when his family rejected him. For Sorrel to love him so much … I think he'll finally be able to move on."

"I didn't think the bond would happen so quickly," Vox murmured. "I think Sorrel being Awoken has something to do with it. She and Max will have the same psychic bond that Tony and Havila do. She loves him that much … I just don't think Sorrel knows what love is. Maybe she'll learn. She's beginning to heal a little, too. The Aphelion left some awful wounds in her mind."

Zero spun her shell in excitement. "I can't wait to see how this plays out. Max is human. Do you think he'll even notice a psychic bond?"

Vox thought about it. "Maybe not at first. Not for a few years. But … you know how the two begin to become one … over time, their genetics will change a little as they become more. And their Light … ice and void … we'd better watch out, Zero. Our Guardians are going to be unstoppable."

"The unstoppable Max and Sorrel Ross," Zero said, bouncing up and down in midair. "They already harnessed a falling asteroid. What will they do next?"

"I don't know," Vox said blissfully. "But I'm glad I'll be there to see it."

"Me too," said Zero.

* * *

The end


End file.
